Cambuslang Community Council have written to South Lanarkshire Council Leader, Cllr Eddie McAvoy, and SLC Chief Executive, Lynsey Freeland, asking for a meeting to discuss a new regeneration strategy for Cambuslang. This follows the launch of the Cambuslang Business Survey conducted by Cambuslang Community Council, which showed deep dissatisfaction in the business sector and wider community with the decline of Cambuslang town centre.
The results indicate that Cambuslang Main Street currently accounts for some 350 jobs and an estimated turnover of £8-11 million. However, many businesses report declining trade and footfall over the past three years, and one-fifth of businesses are considering closing down or moving out of Cambuslang. The survey results provide clear guidance on the business priorities to stop the decline of Cambuslang town centre. They include immediate action to improve parking, upgrade the streetscape and provide better security. More broadly, there is a need for a Business Improvement Plan to promote the commercial revival of the Main Street, and work needs to start on a longer term masterplan to rethink the layout of Cambuslang town centre to make it fit for purpose.
The concerns of the business sector are shared in the wider community of Cambuslang. The 2015 Cambuslang Community Survey (with 1100 responses, the largest community survey in Scotland) showed that the public are extremely unhappy with the neglect of their town centre.
In their letter to SLC council leaders, Cambuslang Community Council said :
“we are not prepared to see our town centre decline further. We are looking to both South Lanarkshire Council and Scottish Government to give meaning to the objective of ‘town centre first’. The attached survey report provides specific recommendations, beginning with the creation of a Town Centre Regeneration Task Force that will oversee a Main Street Action Plan to improve the street, a Business Improvement Plan to improve commercial activity, and the extension of Clyde Gateway to promote wider regeneration of the town.We believe that these are critical issues for Cambuslang and, as the fourth largest town in South Lanarkshire, we consider that they warrant a high-level response from South Lanarkshire Council. We are therefore asking for an early meeting with you both, as Council Leader and Chief Executive respectively, to discuss our regeneration proposals.”