On 4 June 2019, South Lanarkshire Council’s Committee & Enterprise Committee approved “(1) that the consultative draft Cambuslang Town Centre Strategy and Action Plan,
be issued for consultation for a period of 8 weeks; and (2) that, following the period of consultation, the Cambuslang Town Centre Strategy and Action Plan be submitted to a future meeting of the Committee for approval”.
The Cambuslang Town Centre Strategy and Action Plan has been developed over the past year through joint work by the Cambuslang Future sub-group of Cambuslang Community Council and the Economic Development department of South Lanarkshire Council. Its origins go back to the Cambuslang Community Survey, conducted by Cambuslang Community Council in 2015, at the time the largest community survey in Scotland. The survey provided evidence of deep community dissatisfaction with the state of Cambuslang Main Street and the need for change. The urgency of improvements was heightened by the results of the 2017 Cambuslang Business Survey, again conducted by Cambuslang Community Council, which showed the importance of the Main Street for the local economy and employment but also the decline in footfall and trading performance experience by many businesses. In response, Cambuslang Community Council formed a special group, Cambuslang Future, involving local residents and shopkeepers, to lobby South Lanarkshire Council, using the results of the surveys as well as a special video.
South Lanarkshire Council commissioned their own ‘town audit’ of Cambuslang from Scotland’s Towns Partnership and consultants EKOS which provided further data and evidence on the need for regeneration.
The draft Town Centre Strategy is the starting point of a process of regeneration that will take several years to complete. In the first instance, the consultation period is intended to give the wider community and businesses in the town centre the opportunity to comment on the draft action plan and identify their priorities. Further details on the process of consultation will be provided shortly.