Public Access Strategy - Action Area H - Coatbridge, Airdrie, Bellshill, Motherwell and Wishaw

• There is a relatively good network of paths in and around Motherwell and Wishaw.
• There are fewer paths in and around Coatbridge and Airdrie, although the towns benefit from the Glasgow to Edinburgh Cycle Route, and the North Calder Heritage Trail (including now accessible parts of the Monklands Canal).
• The South Calder Water, flowing from east to west along the north side of Wishaw and Motherwell also forms an important corridor as reflected in the Motherwell Green Link Strategy.

• Developing community health and using access to promote social inclusion should be viewed as the main priority within this area. There are concentrations of social exclusion, and low levels of car ownership in communities throughout the area.  A relatively good network of routes already exists, and the emphasis should be on encouraging local people to make fuller use of them.  This requires awareness and confidence to be raised and personal safety and other forms of abuse tackled.  Communities should be effectively involved in planning, monitoring and managing access provision, thereby building local ownership of access.  Signposting, information and promotion in the area should also be developed alongside social inclusion and community health initiatives.  More specifically, initiatives could include the following:
  • To help focus efforts, health based access promotion should be targeted on communities within the Social Inclusion Partnership areas in Coatbridge, Wishaw and Motherwell.  For example, events could be held in Strathclyde Country Park and the nearby community within the Motherwell Social Inclusion Partnership area specifically encouraged to attend. Our questionnaire showed that people in Bellshill do not feel that the park is well connected to its surrounding community. Events and information should aim not only to raise interest in using the park, but should aim to get across the benefits of exercising on a regular basis.  Time taken to walk, run or cycle around the Loch, for example, could be compared to likely calorific loss (worked out in association with a local health centre or professional).
• Working with local sports centres across the area, to encourage them to hold classes within an access area, or to help promote the benefits of walking to and from community facilities as opposed to driving. Health centres may be interested in being involved in the development of a purpose-designed and managed health walk in the area.
• Working in partnership with Lanarkshire Health Board to:
  • Set up more local GP referral schemes, which in turn could help to ensure that patients at most risk of poor health as a result of a lack of exercise, are made aware of the benefits of, and opportunities, for walking, cycling and riding.
  • Promote walking in and around towns as a means of providing exercise within cardiac rehabilitation schemes.
  • Continue to promote the HEBS 'Walk in to Work Out' Pack as a means of ensuring that people who are encouraged to take action, are more likely to maintain good habits in the longer term.  The Eurocentral link project aims to provide opportunities for walking to work, linking Coatbridge and Airdrie with commercial and industrial investment at the Eurocentral site.  However this scheme has not yet been implemented, as a result of continuing consideration of development options at the Woodhall Estate.  Scope for overcoming this and progressing implementation of the Eurocentral link should be viewed as a key priority within this area.
• Community health may not only be improved through exercise, but also by strengthening support networks, and providing more opportunities for social interaction. Respondents to our questionnaire were keen to highlight some important local issues and detailed problems with specific paths.  Maintenance was often considered to be poor, with problems with path surfacing and flooding, vandalism, broken glass etc.  The Local Access Group should aim to involve members of the community, asking them to provide feedback on the condition of paths in the area.  This in turn could help to ensure that members of the community, who might otherwise feel excluded, might be encouraged to join in.
• There is also a need to encourage local people to walk and cycle to the shops, schools and workplaces.  This could be achieved both through the physical development of off road links or improvement of existing routes, or through improved information, and signage (e.g. maps and information boards on network links at industrial estates or business parks).  Such an initiative could build on existing examples of good practice, which have already been developed in North Lanarkshire, and should link with the 'Walk in to Work Out' initiative described above.  Workplace links in areas of regeneration and new development (including Ravenscraig) could be particularly useful, if supported from the early stages of site planning.
• A community based approach to access development in this area may also help towards overcoming problems associated with antisocial behaviour on paths and in access areas.  Increased use of the paths can, in itself, help to reduce loitering, drinking, vandalism and litter, through a form of 'self policing'.  Increasing a greater sense of local community ownership can also be achieved through 'adopt a path' schemes, local schools projects or through local people being directly involved in environmental clean up or maintenance campaigns.  Local people also reported use of the paths by motorbikes – this should be investigated further with a view to taking action in key problem areas (e.g. putting barriers, or gates in place).
• Developing community health should be combined with ensuring that access is provided for people of all ages and abilities.  A number of local groups for disabled people felt that there was a need for more routes for disabled people, particularly wheelchair users (paths around Airdrie and in the North Road area were specifically mentioned).  Poor maintenance of path surfacing can often mean that routes are inaccessible to many people.  It is important that resting areas and / or seats are provided at regular intervals on routes where access for all is being particularly promoted.  This is an overall theme of this strategy, and the measures that can be taken are discussed more fully under the 'Key Principles Section'.
• Regeneration is also a key theme within this action area.  In particular, the redevelopment of the former steel works at Ravenscraig provides an opportunity for a more sustainable approach to development that includes the planning of access by foot and cycle from the outset.  The regeneration Draft Master Plan makes careful provision for access.  NLC should work with nearby communities to identify likely access needs on the ground.  This will help to ensure that the project is locally grounded, and can build on the existing access network that surrounds the area, as a result of previous projects.

Implementation