Making the most of Milngavie

The results of a community survey carried out earlier last year by a new group called Making The Most of Milngavie (MMM) will be discussed at the meeting in Milngavie Town Hall this evening (Thursday, January 14) at 7pm.

The organisers received 1,300 surveys which showed how people felt about working and living in Milngavie and will use them to create a Community Action Plan (CAP).

They have distilled the results into a series of themes and projects which they’d like to carry out in the future.

The next stage is to create a Community Development Trust, with charitable status, which would be run by volunteers and could apply for funding from a variety of sources.

Some of the ideas include creating a masterplan for Lennox Park which would involve refurbishing the playpark and skate park and making improvments to the football pitch - which is currently unusable - and footpaths throughout the park.

Other playparks, such as Oakburn Park, also need repairs to be carried out on broken equipment.

Other popular ideas included adequate public toilets in Milngavie precinct for local people and tourists who come to walk the West Highland Way, for the community to buy the historic Gavin’s Mill building, an upgrade of the first mile of the West Highland Way to create an all-weather path, a heritage interpretation route and WHW mural, community allotments, a community cinema and a revival of the popular Milngavie Week Festival which ran for many years.

People also suggested the creation of an Allander River path which would be accessible to everyone from Staney Brig to Kelvin Way, a ‘reservoir experience’ to attract more visitors by improving access routes to benefit users of all abilities, and a covered outdoor area which could be used for music and other arts performances.

Local people would also like to see the Community Education Centre and the pond and surrounding area cleaned up and restored with the potential for using it for educating about wildlife and the area’s industrial heritage.