Rutherglen Reformer

Delight as £100,000 earmarked for park

- JONATHAN GEDDES

A Cambuslang eyesore could soon be transforme­d into a local oasis after much-needed funding was secured.

The poor condition of Halfway Park has been highlighte­d by locals for many years. Issues such as broken lights, crumbling footpaths and vandalism of the playpark have been a regular occurrence.

However, Halfway Community Council has recently landed a £100,000 cash boost, which will help make the greenspace an area for the whole community to enjoy again.

The cash grant came from the Scottish Government’s place based funding, and was distribute­d by South Lanarkshir­e Council.

Liisa Hepworth of the community council is now optimistic the park can be improved.

She told the Reformer: “This can make a huge difference in the area. There are people who still use it now but there are some who don’t, because they feel it’s a mess or that it can be quite frightenin­g to go through at night as there are no lights working.

“The park is somewhere that can be really nice and really make for a fantastic part of the community, so we can use this money to make it more inviting and get more people going through it again.”

The funding will only form the start of what the community council is hoping to achieve with the land, and members are already exploring further funding possibilit­ies.

However, after four years of trying to secure money to use on the park, Liisa is delighted they can finally begin work.

She added: “We’ve constantly heard from local people that they wanted the park upgraded. We’ve had problems with things like broken glass and dog dirt all over the slides, and it was dishearten­ing to a lot of people what was happening with the park.

“Now we’re taking feedback about what people are looking for. The paths are in a real state so we need them upgraded and we need the lights upgraded too.

“A fence around the playpark is another thing. We’ve argued that’s been needed for years, so that’ll be one of the first things we’ll look to invest in.

“There have been other ideas coming out from the survey too. Some people want an area to run their dogs and there’s definitely a strip of land that could be used for that, and we’ve also had some suggestion­s for somewhere for people to ride their bikes.

“We want to get the football pitch up to a playing standard, and get more flowers and fauna in too. There’s a lot we can do.”

Anyone wishing to give the community council feedback on what to invest on in the park should contact them via halfwaycc@gmail.com or on Facebook.

The Place Based Investment Fund aims to provide financial support for projects that benefit local communitie­s.

 ??  ?? Park life Campaigner­s believe the park could be a real asset to the community
Park life Campaigner­s believe the park could be a real asset to the community
 ??  ?? Benefit Liisa Hepworth is delighted at the funding news
Benefit Liisa Hepworth is delighted at the funding news
 ??  ?? Investment Locals have campaigned for years to improve the park
Investment Locals have campaigned for years to improve the park

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from United Kingdom