This week’s community safety blog will be a load of rubbish, nothing new there some may say, well I can live with that if it is helping or supporting the local community in a practical way. The Tamfourhill Community Hub is now a Clean Up Scotland National Hub, and you can now borrow a full litter picking kit from the Hub. If you want to organise you  own litter pick , whether as a group, on your own, with your family and friends or through a club or organisation that you are involved with that’s what the gear is for. Please contract myself at Communitysafetyengager@tamfourhilltro.co.uk or give me a call on 07391524528 and I will arrange the booking and go through the process for picking up the gear and explaining everything you need to know. I am waiting on Falkirk Council finishing their littering plans and when that is done, I will also be able to cover your activities with Public Liability insurance. This is a chance for everybody to play a part and assist with keeping our communities Tidy Clean and Green.

This is how we can change a Grot Spot to a Creative Spot

Here is how we can change places from Grot Spots to Reclaimed Green zones

This is one aspect of the campaign: to clear the area of rubbish, fly tipping and dog pooh, the other important strand is the reclaiming of badly kept and messy grot spots. The plan is to convert them into green zones and community growing places. We have plans for wildflower meadows, pop up parks, allotments, and growing zones. I will leave Dan to explain that in his Thursday blog and how it fits with the Keep Camelon and Tamfourhill Tidy, Clean & Green campaign.     

https://www.surveymonkey.com/stories/SM-2JSMFB9Y/

Traffic and roads is one of the key community safety themes and as the link above illustrates speeding cars and a lack of safe crossing locations are a notable concern for the local community. During the COVID lockdown people have enjoyed taking to the streets on foot, bicycle, skateboard and scooter and the clean air and quieter roads have had many health and well being benefits. The development of our local community safety strategy will be required to create and sustain this new social and health positivity. A possible and very practical means of achieving this would be for Camelon and Tamfourhill to become Low Traffic Neighbourhoods. This may mean roads being closed for periods of the day, for example outside local schools so that overtime there is a culture change where we no longer expect there to be motor vehicles within a given distance from any school. As the wearing of seat belts and drink driving are no longer considered to be sociably acceptable so will the presence of cars near schools be expected or allowed. The benefits are many , the safety of our children and young people and a reduction on the school car run and its environmental damage, healthier parents and children as walking and cycling become the new school run.

Consider how you and your family could benefit from a living in a Low Traffic Neighbourhood.

In my role as community safety engager I have been invited to participate in regular multi agency discussions chaired by the Leader of Falkirk Council Cecil Meiklejohn , this will put various local community safety issues onto the agenda and in particular the issue of road safety and traffic management will be a priority consideration for this Group. As always my focus will be to put the community at the front and centre of any new safety initiatives, so please watch this space for opportunities to be involved with shaping particular plans and actions.

Often our problems are ones of perception and if we change the view then we can change the narrative. I therefore would propose that instead of putting up big aggressive signs that say a road or street is closed that we put up cheerful signs that exclaim the road or street is open to : walking, cycling, skateboarding , wheel chair access and just about any form of sports, games and exercise, this below is the kind of signage that I am talking about:

My colleague Dan was recently highlighting the Road Safety Trust who will provide funds for councils and communities to devise, plan and implement improvements to road safety and this could be one avenue we pursue locally in order to improve road and traffic safety.

I want to finish this week on a high note and ask you to consider what it might be like if we began to transform our neighbourhood into a Low Traffic neighbourhood. I have touched before on pop up parks and reclaiming green zones for community planting as part of the Keep Camelon and Tamfourhill Tidy Clean and Green campaign, so lets consider if we join all these strands together then we could get something like what the film below illustrates:

Please as always get in touch if you have any comments , ideas or thoughts about the Low Traffic Neighbourhood approach to community safety.

I hope that you may have 5 minutes to spare in order to have a read of this week’s Community Safety Blog. I have highlighted successful community organisations on previous weeks blogs but this week I will focus on a group of local people who have simply decided that they must take their own direct action. Well I say people but in actual fact the star of the show is an energetic and dutiful dog called Lexie.   I met up with the group last Tuesday afternoon when they had agreed to take me on a tour of some of the routes and locations  that they regularly cover when they are out collecting rubbish and clearing up their immediate local area. This dedication and commitment are exemplary, so we are truly fortunate that they have agreed to actively support the Keep Camelon and Tamfourhill Tidy, Clean and Green campaign.

After a short briefing session, we headed along the canal tow path past Lock 14 and down towards Camelon Public Park, this was all new territory for myself, it was a   fine day and the tow path was being well used by walkers and cyclists. The level of litter and rubbish was moderate, but I was impressed with the group’s techniques and silky use of the litter pickers, even discarded cigarette butts were skilfully removed and put into the bin bag.  The most outstanding contribution however was from Lexie who is so well trained and in tune with the task at hand that she is mega efficient at pulling discarded  plastic bottles, crisp pokes, sweetie rappers and discarded cans out from the jaggy bushes and grass verges.  In addition to removing the litter we were also mapping out the areas for potential growing spots and for locations that had been badly disfigured by fly -tipping. This was a double-edged sword as we identified an excellent area of the public park for growing a wildflower meadow and a couple of horrific spots piled high with human detritus and industrial sized rubbish. This was a bit of a roller coaster, the ups of the canal and the tow path, green areas for potential community growing and the lows of sizeable dumps of fly tipping and industrial garbage.

We identified this terrible load of rubbish near Camelon Main Street; however, the Councils Environmental Enforcement Team are onto it and I therefore hope to report a clean up in the next few weeks. Please do report fly tipping if you see it, remember not to interfere with it as there could be evidence of the perpetrators amongst the debris. You can report fly tipping to Falkirk Council at https://my.falkirk.gov.uk/en,  if you are having problems with the online process, please do not hesitate to contact myself for some help.

A significant strand of the local Clear Up campaign will be about supporting and building upon the great work that is already undertaken by local people. Nobody asked these particular volunteers to give up their time and dirty their hands with the task of making their neighbourhoods look tidier and cleaner, they have taken that responsibility on for themselves. They care deeply about their local community and are motivated to make a difference and I felt energised and positive after my mapping session with them last week. In addition, since the recent publicity in the Falkirk Herald a number of other volunteers have got in touch and have put themselves forward to assist with the Campaign. I can also report on having very constructive meetings with Falkirk Council Waste Services and I am greatly confident that we can all work together and have a significant impact on improving of the area.  

We are now a Keep Scotland Beautiful Community Hub which means we will be able to support our existing volunteers with improved resources and support and we can also support any groups or individuals who want to organise and run their own litter picks. The Councils new Litter strategy once agreed will also provide us with additional equipment for groups, publicity materials and very importantly Public Liability Insurance. I will also be looking to involve and engage the local schools, youth and community groups and local businesses with the Clear up Campaign. So, if you want to organise your own litter pick then please get in touch with myself, the contact details are below. I can help you plan, provide equipment, support you with some citizen science advice and ensure your litter pick is risk assessed and the paperwork is in place so you and your group are fully covered by the relevant insurance policy. I am hoping that more local people and groups will step up to the mark and contribute and follow in the footsteps of the Union Road Group and a dog called Lexie.

Please contact John R Hosie : Community Safety Engager 07391524528 & communitysafetyengager@tamfourhilltro.co.uk

“Millions of small actions by each human being; all the little things we do every day, can surely add up to vast changes over time”

 John Muir; Conservationist and ecologist.

The recent responses to the Keep Camelon and Tamfourhill, Tidy , clean and green campaign have been very positive , and its great to be able to thank the various local people who have come forward to volunteer and get involved with clearing up our local community. The recently published article in the Falkirk Herald has been a great boost to the campaign and has encouraged and motivated local people to take up the challenge , get their hands dirty and make a contribution to improving the quality of life for everybody.

I really don’t want to hear that dropping litter is not my responsibility or even worse that I cannot do anything about the litter problem , “what difference can I make ?”, well I refer to the John Muir Quote that headlines this article and in a similar way I would point out that  mighty glaciers are made up of individual snowflakes.

https://www.falkirkherald.co.uk/news/people/group-needs-help-tidy-camelons-coffin-alley-and-other-litter-strewn-eyesores-2957516

I will use this week’s community safety blog to describe the different activities that will be organised as part of the; Tidy, Clean & Green campaign.

Litter Picks:  These will be supported through the Clean Up Scotland national hub which will provide the equipment and resources to organise and run effective community litter picks. Different organisations, groups and schools will all be asked to contribute. I am keen to establish champions for different streets and areas and for individuals or small groups to take responsibility for specific localities, whether that’s a street a close or a park. I am also in discussion with Falkirk Council to agree how we can work closely together with their Waste Services Department. We need to encourage behavioural change and by organising a clean up we will be setting the example for others in the community and showing them that it really is possible to make a difference. We will be wearing the bright recycled tabards supplied by Keep Scotland Beautiful so we will be providing a high-profile nudge and reminder to people that littering will not be tolerated by the community.

Developing partnerships: Through contacting local groups, businesses, pubs, and shops we will be able to establish networks of support and the potential to gain sponsorship and greater publicity for our community-based campaign. An important partnership will be with Falkirk Council, but this will also have a very local dimension which will take in the schools, the leisure sector and our transport providers.

Greening and Growing: The tactics here will be about transforming grot spots into biodiverse areas, or green zones, this can include edible vegetable and herb borders, tasty spaces and pop up parks. These are themes I have touched upon in previous blogs and they will form a central aspect of this campaign. Once we have cleared up an area the best way to sustain that improvement is to reclaim it back for the community as a green leisure or growing space. This can also facilitate new links with local food banks and play a role in combating food poverty and assist with addressing health and wellbeing concerns. I am sure many residents would welcome more seating with some natural greenery around them when they are out going about their business or going for a walk. The potential in this is immense and off course it makes a positive contribution to the climate emergency.

Surveys and information gathering; This takes us into the realms of Citizen Science and can be developed around outdoor learning programmes and encourages us to engage with the natural world around us. Through this approach we can gain insight into how nature works and how we can facilitate improvements for our wild spaces and make them more sustainable. This is more than tree hugging and can involve gathering data which will be useful to other agencies and conservation groups as well as waste management interests. Similarly we will be able to monitor our green areas for invasive species and therefore take action to get them removed or better managed. There is an explicit link here to the school curriculum and other areas of community learning and development. Also essential to this part of the campaign will be the reporting of extreme littering and fly-tipping and getting support from the Council and other agencies through them uplifting bulky items and potentially issue fines. Gathering data can also assist with identifying the most appropriate areas for positioning bins.

Creativity and making some Art: I am sure our colleagues at Camelon Arts will have plenty of groovy ideas for how we can upcycle, recycle, and build sculptures with some of the litter that is gathered. The only constraint in this department will be our imaginations and I look forward to making a load of rubbish art all over Camelon and Tamfourhill. I will also be encouraging younger people to design posters and flyers which provide positive anti littering messages and images and similarly I will be looking to support and develop a social media strategy which mirrors the campaigns activities and also provides positive reinforcing messages about why we must try and keep our community tidy, clean and green.

Promoting Nudge activities: A nudge is an intervention that alters people’s behaviour in a predictable manner, without forcing a particular action onto them. For example, to promote healthy eating, fruit could be placed at eye level in shops or sweets can be removed from the checkouts. Whilst it is not impossible to get the sweets, the emphasis and easiest action is to select the fruit. A nudge then makes the behaviour you want to promote the path of least resistance, without removing the individual’s ability to choose an alternative. Some examples could be to chalk footprints on the pavement showing people to their nearest bin, getting local businesses, charities, or the schools to design and sponsor a colourful bin to make it more obvious to passers-by. I will leave Flash mobs for a future blog, but these might appeal to the younger generation and especially those who regularly use tic-tock or indeed this may also appeal to some of the older hippy generation who are up for a bit of situationist prankster art.

I will conclude for now on that note of having fun through taking part. I will endeavour to make our litter picks an enjoyable experience, it can be creative and can be an outdoor learning activity, it can be this and a whole lot more.

The Rainbow that shines over Nailer Park

In this week’s community safety blog, I would like to highlight a local success story and it is one that I hope we can build upon and replicate throughout Camelon and Tamfourhill. I was only recently introduced to the Friends of Nailer Park Group who have demonstrated what can be achieved when local people are prepared to take responsibility for their own area and put in some hard and highly creative work.  I met the group on a sunny August evening, and they told me about the work they had been involved with and how they had transformed the park. As we were sitting at one of the rainbow painted picnic tables it was very encouraging to see the park being used by a variety of children and adults all enjoying the equipment and the sunshine.  This Park is clearly at the heart of community life and it is a great example of a successful community project and it is one  which is making a significant contribution to the health and well being of the local people and providing the area with a quality play and recreation facility. The problems with our climate and its negative impacts on our natural environment has also been addressed through the Groups hard work in creating a wildlife hedge, we will see the benefits of this in the years to come.  I look forward to attending one of the Groups very successful community events which they  regularly run at the Park and which involves loads of local people helping with the organisation and where other local groups and organisations are there to deliver an array of activities and events. I am optimistic that we might be able to host a small community safety event at the Park during the school October holidays, this will off course be dependent upon the COVID situation and may have to wait until later in the year. I think it is worthwhile to stand back and acknowledge the importance of Groups like this, they are the lifeblood of the community and are a forum for further development and success. I am therefore hoping that I will be able to support the group and contribute to the community safety agenda through facilitating new opportunities at the Park. The local Keep Camelon and Tamfourhill Tidy, Clean and Green campaign will be another asset to the Park and the local area and I will be encouraging the Group to link in with our new Clean up Hub and the new litter picking resources which are coming into the area at the end of this week. This new initiative is part of the Keep Scotland Beautiful clean up Scotland campaign and it will see Camelon and Tamfourhill being one of 10 regional hubs spread throughout Scotland. Similarly, the issue of improved security will be looked at so that the Park can be kept safe. Along with other Partner agencies I will also be looking to see how we can better engage with the young people, children and families who currently make use of the Park. My colleague Dan Rous will be working closely with the Group and supporting them to identify new opportunities and resources to further improve and develop both the Park and the Group. I know the Group are extremely disappointed to be losing the support of Dani Lisney from the Communities Along the Carron Association, who is moving onto a new job. Dani has been a long-standing support to the group and will undoubtedly leave a significant gap and one which will be extremely hard to fill. I know however that Dan will be able to take up where Dani has left off and he will continue to support and encourage the Group. A programme of training and group development activities can be organised and I will also be there to assist with progressing the community safety agenda and thus enabling the Group to make the area a safer and happier place to live and work. I hope you enjoy this short slide show of the Groups successes to date and I look forward to a rainbow coloured and sunny future for the Friends of Nailer Park.

You will never plough a field by turning it over in your mind

If you are interested in the Group or would like to contribute to the wider community safety strategy then please do get in touch with myself at communitysafetyengager@tamfourhilltro.co.uk and 07391524528, or leave a comment in the box below.