LESMAHAGOW DEVELOPMENT TRUST COMMUNITY ALLOTMENT PROJECT GROW A LOT LESMAHAGOW (GLL) DRAFT DEVELOPMENT PLAN FOR GLL 1.Executive summary Grow a Lot Lesmahagow (GLL) will cut carbon emissions, promote a healthier lifestyle and improve the economic circumstances of Lesmahagow residents. The project will enable local schools, interest groups and individuals to grow their own produce, thereby reducing food miles and food waste. The establishment works will be delivered as an employability project providing waged work experience and training for local people. Project Aims Grow a Lot Lesmahagow (GLL) aims to enable key behavioural changes within the Lesmahagow community. Development, design and creation of a community allotment will: • Reduce carbon emissions • Reduce food waste • Increase composting • Encourage healthier eating • Improve health through physical activity • Improve mental health through social interaction • Strengthen community cohesion • Provide opportunities for lifelong learning • Support people into sustainable employment • Alleviate poverty How it Will Achieve Changes GLL will achieve significant carbon emissions reductions through the creation and management of a community allotment. The allotment will enable the community to grow its own fruit and vegetables. It offers the opportunity to educate local children and adults about where our food comes from. Growing produce locally will reduce food miles, require fewer trips to the supermarket and reduce food waste. Zero Waste Scotland figures show that Scottish households throwaway over half a million tonnes of food every year - over two thirds of this could be avoided. LOT will access resources and support available through Zero Waste Scotland's 'Love Food Hate Waste' and 'Home Composting' programmes. Allotment user surveys will monitor behaviour change. Growing plots will be available to local schools, community groups and individuals. Plots will be accessible and vary in size to meet different needs and abilities within the community. The allotment will serve as a new space for social interaction, promoting community cohesion and combating feelings of isolation. The project will improve the economic circumstances of local people. The works to establish the allotment will be delivered as an employability project. Local people will be recruited onto a training scheme and will learn skills and gain confidence to stand them in a better position for future employment prospects. They will receive training and work to create the allotment under the supervision of qualified industry professionals. Trainees will gain certificated qualifications. Trainees will be supported to progress into sustainable employment on completion of the project works. The development of the project and on-going management of the allotment presents an excellent capacity building opportunity for LOT. It will also provide additional volunteering opportunities for the community. 2. Organisational summary Lesmahagow Development Trust (LOT) LOT is an independent, not-for-profit organisation with charitable status and a limited company. It was established in 2009, with the objective of funding and implementing projects to enhance the facilities and environment of Lesmahagow. LOT works in close partnership with Lesmahagow Community Council and other groups active within the village. Website: www.lesmahagowdevtrust.com Who can jOin/membership Membership is open to all residents of the village, the surrounding area detailed within our memorandum and articles of association and also non -voting members from further afield with an interest in seeing Lesmahagow prosper. Structure & Governance Trust activities are overseen by a voluntary Board elected by the members. Oecisions are made by the Board at formal meetings and involve consultations with relevant individuals and local organisations as and when necessary. Our activities are recorded in our Minutes of Board and reported on our members' website. We often hold community information events and have regular reports in the local press of our activities and intentions. Reports are also provided to the Community Council where we have a representative available to answer any questions from members or interested parties. Our finances are managed by our Treasurer on a day to day basis and agreed officially by regular financial updates at Exec and Board meetings and audited annually. 3. Project Background The Trust has developed a number of small community development initiatives which have made a difference to the community, most notably a funded project from a local Tesco store to enhance and improve the main street and retail outlets in our village with shop frontage improvement work. The Trust holds regular village markets and an annual Christmas Fair in partnership with the local Community Council. The Trust organises a regular weekly computer course for older residents called Silver Surfers Group. The Trust have also produced a local community plan and investigated at length the possibility of asset transfer from the council two central properties that were declared surplus to Council requirements. The Trust also ran a series of successful Gaelic classes for the local community. The Trust has also developed the initiative to create an allotment project for the local villagers and to date has secured a grant of £89k from Climate Challenge Fund for this 2 allotment project with a further additional capital contribution from Clyde and Avon Valley Landscape Partnership. The Trust were also successful in securing £134k from Central Scotland Green Network as a joint partnership bid between the Forestry Commission and the Wise Group to install woodland paths in and around the village and create a community orchard. This has been successfully achieved and we hope to within the next two years begin to harvest fruit for local consumption from our orchard. LOT has or has had direct management in the following projects: Paths to Progress-partnership - LOT, Forestry Commission and Wise Group. £134,000.00 awarded from CSGN Grow a Lot Lesmahagow - £89,000.00 from CCF and capital contribution from Clyde and Avon Valley Landscape Partnership (CAVLP). Silver Surfers- IT classes. Community Planning -priority setting Credit Union - Feasibility exercise Jubilee Hall-failed to secure asset transfer initiative Main Street Improvements- ongoing Gaelic Lessons for local community now completed Pensioner Hall- asset transfer initiative failed. Regular village markets held and annual Christmas open doors event organised in partnership with Lesmahagow Community Council. The ambition of the Trust is to build from this base and the inward investment achieved to make a bigger difference to the community of Lesmahagow. Importantly, the achievements of these smaller projects have helped both the Trust and the wider community believe that change is possible and that, coming together as a community, we can have a sustainable community controlled organisation with a positive and lasting impact on the quality of life and on our environment. 4. Strategic Context Lesmahagow is a village in rural South Lanarkshire. It is situated just off the M74 motorway, on the west bank of the River Nethan. The GLL project will provide a new greenspace resource for the benefit of all Lesmahagow residents. The allotment will provide growing plots for local schools, interest groups and individual members of the community. Lesmahagow is a geographically, economically and socially diverse village. Due to its proximity to the M74, some parts of Lesmahagow have over the years become a commuter belt for people who want to live in a village but have work commitments elsewhere. Many of these commuters have reasonable levels of disposable income but with limited opportunities for social activity, they travel outwith the village for recreation and leisure. Other areas of the village are classed as socially deprived and access to local activities is restricted by financial constraints. 3 This presents Lesmahagow Development Trust with one of its biggest challenges is how to develop projects which do not alienate any part of the population but bring all areas together regardless of social or financial standing. The village has a population of just over 3,600 people. Outlying and surrounding areas within boundary of the community council adds a further 3,300 people. The Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation (SIMD) divides the Lesmahagow community into four Datazones, one of which is ranked 646th and falls within the 10% most deprived communities in Scotland. Within this area: • 27% of the population is Income Deprived (Scottish average = 15%) • 21% is Employment Deprived (Scottish average = 12%) Lesmahagow's social issues mirror those evident across South Lanarkshire. Data from SIMD shows: • 58 datazones in South Lanarkshire are amongst the most deprived 15% in Scotland • There is a high concentration of datazones within the worst 15% around the Larkhall/Strutherhill and Hamilton/Blantyre areas. • A higher percentage of the South Lanarkshire population claim Job Seekers Allowance than the Scottish Average. This is the case across all age bands, from 16 to the over 50s. • Within the Clydesdale South Multi Member Ward, 15% of the population are income deprived against a Scottish average of 14%. The percentage of 16-24 year olds claiming Job Seekers Allowance, at 9.6%, is significantly higher than the Scottish average of 5.9%. The Single Outcome Agreement Annual Report for 2010-11 shows: • Income per head in South