Street hope
Save Main Street group supported by 700
Nearly 700 people have signed up to a Facebook page campaigning to save Cambuslang Main Street.
Set up in the wake of a shock report about decline in the town, the page aims to generate ideas to make business thrive again.
Nearly 700 people have signed up to a Facebook page campaigning to save Cambuslang Main Street in the wake of the shock survey on the state of the town centre.
The page was created by Cambuslang West Green council candidate David McClemont.
He started it after TSB announced they were closing their Cambuslang branch and just days before we revealed the findings of a study by Cambuslang Community Council.
They found one in five businesses have thought about leaving in the past three years , while 40 per cent have seen business decline.
David, who emphasised the page is not party political, reckons the number of likes demonstrates the strength of feeling on the issue. He said: “The reaction has been huge. “People are angry that the Main Street has been neglected over the years and feel that what redevelopment has been done has turned out badly . That’s going all the way back to knocking down the tenements on one side of the road through to changing the road layout and building the new council offices.
“In terms of new ideas, there’s really not been any. I think people feel it’s up to the council to do something ,but at the same time they have very little faith that the council will do anything.”
The issue was discussed at a Cambuslang Community Council meeting last week.
Once again parking was mentioned as the biggest issue while one business owner pointed to business rates, saying: “Rates are so far apart from what they think people can afford.”
Another council candidate to call for action this week was Dr Norman Rae, Lib Dem candidate for Cambuslang West.
He called for changes to the street layout to accommodate more parking spaces, adding: “If action is not taken soon, any hope of revival will be lost.
“The key to this is engaging local businesses and people with innovative ideas in the Cambuslang area, but it will need a clear vision of what the future of the Main Street might be and what is needed to achieve it.”
The comprehensive community council survey, which runs to 30 pages, paints a worrying picture of the Main Street.
Along with parking, crime was also seen as a major problem, as was the current street layout.
The Main Street retail sector supports some 350 jobs, 171 full-time and 183 parttime, and has an estimated turnover of between £8million and £11million. But the community council believe losing more shops would accelerate a “vicious cycle of decline”.
In the report, Cambuslang Community Council said: “The results show that the Main Street is in trouble and may be reaching a tipping point.”
The survey was run from November 2016 to January and achieved 73 responses, equivalent to a 95 per cent rate from the 77 businesses approached for the survey.