Blantyre community meeting hailed a big success

Jun 11 2009 by Chris Clements, Hamilton Advertiser

A COMMUNITY awareness event held at Priestfield Hall in High Blantyre has been praised by local people – with similar events now being rolled out across the Blantyre and Hamilton area.

Residents and stakeholders were invited to the hall last month to hold in-depth discussions with representatives from a wide range of services in the area, including Strathclyde Police, NHS Lanarkshire, South Lanarkshire Leisure, and community wardens.

Other services who attended included the Social Work, Job Centre Plus, Routes to Work South, Consumer and Trading Standards, Strathclyde Fire and Rescue Service, Financial Education and Youth Learning Services.

Blantyre independent councillor Bert Thomson attended the proceedings and was happy with how all parties interacted.

He said: “All the services involved were there and made the effort to speak to the public directly and answer direct questions that they don’t always have the opportunity to ask.

“It also gave people a better chance to see and hear from their local services, and hear realistically what they can and cannot do.

“For the police, and the new Blantyre inspector Gillian Scott, it offered a really good chance to hear the real worries and concerns of Blantyre folk at ground level.”

Bert explained that information was passed both ways. He added: “It covered all aspects of local life, not just vandalism and crime, but other things like community links, duties and contact details.

“It was a very good event and I’d like to thank the stakeholders for turning up and making an effort. It was a success story. Actually meeting people face-to-face is a great chance for the community.”

Subsequent community consultation events have taken place over recent weeks in Strutherhill in Larkhall and the Whitehill and Hillhouse areas of Hamilton, with a fifth event for the Fairhill/Low Waters area scheduled.

A spokesman for South Lanarkshire Council said: “The main aim has been to provide local residents with an opportunity to meet officers from these organisations to discuss what’s good and what’s not so good about the area where they live and the services they receive.

“Using feedback from residents, potential areas for service improvement will now be considered by those key services.”

A further aspect of the event was to provide residents with information and the opportunity to comment on the new draft Anti Social Behaviour Strategy which sets out how the council and its partners will tackle anti-social behaviour in South Lanarkshire over the next four years.

He added: “Every household within each of these areas received a personal invitation to attend their local area’s event.

“A similar event will be held in each of these areas next year and hopefully even more residents will come along.”