Clydesdale Parks
The final item of business is a members' business debate on motion S2M-4811, in the name of Karen Gillon, on Clydesdale parks. The debate will be concluded without any question being put.
Motion debated,
That the Parliament welcomes the decision by the Heritage Lottery Fund to award over £1.3 million to help renovate Castlebank Park and Delves Park in Lanark; congratulates South Lanarkshire Council on its ambitious proposals to significantly improve access, interpretation and learning opportunities at the two historic parks; believes that restoration of the 18th century walled garden, the reinstatement of the glasshouses and the development of a multi-sports play area will attract many new visitors and increase community involvement in local history, gardening and other activities, and looks forward to the parks playing an important role in celebrations such as Lanimer Day, the medieval fayre and other special events in the future.
I thank all the members who signed the motion and I welcome to the chamber community representatives and councillors and staff from South Lanarkshire Council, who were involved in drawing up the successful bid to the Heritage Lottery Fund and who will take the project forward in the years ahead.
I am proud to represent Clydesdale, which is without doubt one of the most beautiful parts of Scotland. It has a rich cultural heritage and vibrant communities. It is also home to the fantastic world heritage site of New Lanark. In recent years, the royal burgh of Lanark has developed a series of events that complement our fantastic Lanimer day celebrations, which are famed far and wide. Last year, the town played its part in the symbolic return of the spirit of William Wallace, and in August it hosted a medieval fair that focused on the connections with Wallace. In November, the town will be filled with the sounds, smells and shopping opportunities of a traditional Christmas market. It will be a great family day out and people can help the environment by not flying off to a continental market abroad but coming to Lanark instead. Everyone is welcome.
The ambitious plans for the parks came about after detailed and thorough consultation with the community and other stakeholders. Castlebank park, Delves park and Castle hill cover more than 20 acres. The project has at its heart Castle hill, which was the site of Lanark castle, which dated to around 1100, and is where William Wallace's uprising began in 1297. The project is envisaged as a butterfly, with Castle hill as its body and the two parks as its wings.
There was considerable concern in the local community that these valuable resources were falling into disrepair. The terraced gardens were declared dangerous and closed to the public in 2002. The path network, especially in Delves park, was deteriorating and unsafe and the last remaining derelict glasshouses were removed for public safety.
Through letters and articles in the Lanark Gazette and the Lanark & Carluke Advertiser, the community expressed its concern and desire for change and improvement. It is to the community's credit and the credit of the council, which responded, that we are here today. The community has driven forward a genuine partnership with South Lanarkshire Council and the final plan demonstrates effective local consultation and innovative working across council departments and the community to deliver a creative park regeneration project.
The project has five key elements at its heart. The first element is the conservation and restoration of the parks and gardens, including replacing and restoring the walls and gardens and reinstating the paths and steps, thus enhancing the visitor experience and bringing people back to the park in greater numbers.
The second element is the provision for heritage and horticultural interpretation. That will enable people fully to appreciate the history of the designed landscape, the house and the role and purpose of the gardens. It will bring the gardens and the history to life and enable people to keep coming back and to have different experiences each time they do.
There will also be a range of new public facilities and features. These will be living parks. With the new putting green, tennis courts, five-a-side area, play area, cafe and garden shop, there will be facilities for old and young alike. That will ensure that the life of the parks is developed.
Perhaps one of the most exciting aspects of the development is the provision of new education and training facilities. In assessing the bid, the Heritage Lottery Fund committee considered that the application put forward a coherent and integrated package for the three sites. The committee agreed that the proposals would significantly improve access and interpretation at the sites and that the applicant had developed a large number of imaginative educational opportunities. It particularly commended the new post of educational gardener, which will provide a strong educational focus through the development of displays, tours and practical sessions. The Heritage Lottery Fund committee agreed that that would bring the garden's history alive for the general public, and it welcomed the proposals to grow local varieties of fruit and vegetables.
The community learning that will be at the heart of the project will be further enhanced by what is perhaps the most exciting aspect of the project—the development of the stable yard and cafe to provide training for adults with learning difficulties. That will be done with additional funding to the tune of £450,000 from South Lanarkshire Council's social work department. The stables area will be developed to provide workshop space for arts and crafts, pottery and cards, and there will be a small shop where products will be available for sale. The project will also develop a cafe that will enable training to take place, as well as providing a service to the public. The replacement of the greenhouse and garden area also offers further opportunities for adults with learning disabilities to gain meaningful training and work experience up to Scottish vocational qualification level. In a rural constituency such as mine, having quality community-based training available to adults with learning difficulties is essential. It only helps to enhance understanding and to integrate those people in the community, not just in Lanark but further afield.
The final strand of the bid is community involvement and the development of events. As I have said, both parks are already of high importance to the social and community fabric of Lanark and are used annually for the events that I mentioned. They are also home to two community gardens that have been created in the past four years. The parks project will enable that development to be enhanced and to go on to provide further inspiration for new developments.
The project demonstrates how parks are important to people and how local culture can help sustainable development. It is a significant project and I congratulate both the Heritage Lottery Fund and South Lanarkshire Council on putting their money where their mouths are, to the tune of £2.8 million. The project brings together the Parliament's priorities for sustainable rural communities, regeneration and lifelong learning.
Perhaps most important, the project is about people. It is about people being involved in the development and planning of the project and in learning and volunteering, and about people enjoying the landscape and culture around them. Clydesdale is, without doubt, a beautiful area. I invite the Minister for Tourism, Culture and Sport to come and see that beauty for herself, to hear more about the vision, to walk through the park and understand how it is going to be developed, and perhaps to consider how we can combine this fantastic new project with the equally attractive visitor location of New Lanark, to ensure that people in Scotland and beyond can share with the people of Lanark the fantastic facilities that are on their doorstep.
I congratulate Karen Gillon on securing the debate. She has eloquently described the benefits of the park, and our parks and public open spaces are valuable community assets. I join her in welcoming the fact that South Lanarkshire Council and the community have secured this significant investment for Castlebank and Delves parks. Too often, we forget the importance of informal open space—green spaces that are open to anyone at any time—and of places where children can go to play at short notice and without going far from home, and where joggers and dog walkers can find a focus for their outdoor activities.
However, although the investment that we are celebrating today is welcome, we must recognise that there is a need for positive action to support and protect other parks and green spaces throughout South Lanarkshire. The good fortune that is being enjoyed by these parks contrasts all too starkly with what has happened at Holmhills wood community park, in one of the most urbanised and deprived parts of South Lanarkshire. At Holmhills, despite a strong and sustained community campaign, permission was given to build the new high school right on top of three football pitches and the much-loved park. Was that really the only possible site? Did South Lanarkshire Council do everything that it could in that case to safeguard its green spaces? It was only five years ago that the council trumpeted the investment of more than £1 million in the development of that park.
Karen Gillon has described the projects that are planned for the Clydesdale parks. Holmhills was also used for events such as craft fairs and children's entertainments. Access to green spaces should not be a lottery, be that a postcode lottery or the one whose support we are welcoming this evening. As the Executive notes in its current consultation on green spaces,
"our greenspaces are essential to the health and wellbeing of the people and the planet."
I agree. I hope that South Lanarkshire Council shares those values and will seek to protect and enhance all green spaces in its care and not just its formal parks. In particular, I urge it to resist the remorseless advance of the developers, who care not a jot for the green spaces.
Karen Gillon, Alasdair Morgan and I attended a public outreach event in Larkhall on Monday. It was a packed house, and members of the public made clear the community's call for green space and their anger at South Lanarkshire Council's failure to protect it locally. We know the value of Castlebank and Delves parks and it is great that their future now seems assured. However, until a complete and full audit of all green spaces across South Lanarkshire is conducted to enable us to assess the true value and extent of such irreplaceable community assets, the danger will be that, bit by bit, our green spaces will be parcelled up and sold for development.
I do not find that acceptable and I do not think that the people of South Lanarkshire will find that acceptable. Although I am happy to support Karen Gillon in celebrating the achievement and congratulating those involved in the community and council, I do not think that that is the whole story with the council.
We should congratulate Karen Gillon on introducing the debate and doing what a good constituency MSP should do in reminding us all of the many attractions and virtues that lie within her constituency.
I lived in Lanark some years ago but, as I was a three-year-old at the time, the finer points of some of Lanark's attractions were perhaps more lost on me than they might be today. Karen Gillon was right to remind us of the rich culture and history that surround the burgh. We are often in danger of forgetting some of the attractions that lie in parts of Lanarkshire and focusing too much on the attractions of the bigger cities.
The nature of members' business debates is that it is rather difficult to find a lot with which to disagree. That is not necessarily a bad thing, particularly given the elements of disagreement that we have had today in the chamber, but Chris Ballance raised some interesting points about the broader issues and the importance of green space. It made me wonder how many other Lanarks there are, with the same problems. How many other places are confronting similar challenges and what opportunity could there be for initiatives and innovative practices developed in Lanark to be spread more broadly across the country to benefit towns in similar circumstances? The minister can perhaps address that later.
I suspect that one difficulty is to repeat across the country all the great effort that goes into such achievements, so I wonder whether the Executive can facilitate that. A host of organisations is always involved in such matters, but it would be interesting. Perhaps the minister could reflect on that if she takes up Karen Gillon's offer to visit Lanark in the near future.
It is also worth remembering some of the benefits that lottery funding has brought us. The lottery has not been without its critics or problems, but in many parts of the country lottery funding has transformed the environment and people's opportunities to lead a better quality of life. After all, that was one of the main objectives of the lottery when it was set up. We should also use this opportunity to reflect on the benefits that the lottery has brought to many places in Scotland.
I do not want to say a great deal more other than to congratulate both those involved in the renovation and Karen Gillon on reminding us all of the many virtues of her constituency. Perhaps the minister will be kind enough to address the points that I made.
I join Chris Ballance and Derek Brownlee in thanking Karen Gillon for giving us the opportunity to debate an important subject that is of particular interest to South Lanarkshire. The debate has been interesting and I add my congratulations to South Lanarkshire Council and everyone who has recognised the value of the historic parks at Castlebank and Delves and worked tirelessly to ensure that they will be preserved for future generations.
Public parks are an important part of the historic environment and play a role in social history. Karen Gillon is correct to identify her constituency as being one of the most attractive in the country and as having a famous history. The park at Castlebank lies in the buffer zone around the world heritage site at New Lanark and its renovation will help to preserve the setting of that internationally recognised industrial and cultural complex.
The renovation of the parks at Castlebank and Delves is another example of the benefits that investment by the Heritage Lottery Fund provides to Scotland. Well over 2,000 projects have secured more than £454 million in awards and Scotland has received some 12 per cent of all the awards that have been made throughout the United Kingdom. It may be of interest to Mr Brownlee to learn that many other parks and public open spaces throughout Scotland, whether large or small, are being restored with support from the Heritage Lottery Fund. Examples include Glasgow green, the Mid links in Montrose and Baxter park in Dundee. To date, £24.2 million has been spent specifically on park projects in Scotland.
Parks should be valued as places of relaxation, exercise and enjoyment. I am delighted that our agency, Historic Scotland, is working closely with the Heritage Lottery Fund on projects that involve parks. As well as supporting each other and working with local authorities, the two bodies contribute to the project funding packages, share specialist expertise and play to their strengths. The results of such collaborations are quality public spaces that are fit for the 21st century but which retain their historic character and distinctiveness.
I particularly welcome the Heritage Lottery Fund's recently launched parks for people scheme, which will build on the success of previous schemes, and I look forward with confidence to more Scottish projects being successful in years to come.
Even when the Heritage Lottery Fund is not involved, Historic Scotland supports projects that fall within its funding remit, especially when key historic buildings form the focus of parks. I have already mentioned Baxter park in Dundee, where funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund supported the landscape work and Historic Scotland focused its support on refurbishment of the pavilion. The tournament bridge in Eglinton country park and the Dalzell estate in Motherwell are other examples of where Historic Scotland has provided support to historic parks.
Scotland's parks, both historic and modern, are important for a range of reasons that lie close to the Executive's key objectives. From the viewpoint of the economy, parks add to the range of quality places that tourists can visit and encourage them to stay longer in the neighbourhood of headline destinations such as New Lanark. I was struck by what Karen Gillon said about the attractiveness of Castlebank and Delves parks as visitor destinations. They sound like perfect examples of the attractions that are joining our green tourism business scheme in growing numbers. I look forward to hearing of them applying to join that scheme and receiving accreditation in due course.
In a less direct but nonetheless significant way, quality public spaces project a confident civic image, which in turn supports investment in economic regeneration. However, for me it is local people's need for and use and appreciation of our historic parks—and parks in general—that make projects such as those at Castlebank and Delves so important.
Physical and mental well-being is supported by energetic exercise or gentle strolling, by access to fresh air and simply by relaxing in pleasant surroundings. In that context, I am particularly pleased that the Heritage Lottery Fund requires all applicants to take thoughtful account of maximising all-needs access to our great parks.
The Scottish Executive has of course long recognised the multiple benefits of public open spaces, both formal and informal. This August, we published a consultation draft of a new Scottish planning policy on physical activity and open space.
Given the Executive's support for and recognition of the importance of green spaces throughout Scotland, does the minister agree that we need an audit of what we have before we lose too much more of it?
I am going to come to a point shortly that might help Mr Ballance with that.
The planning policy will highlight the many advantages of ensuring that quality public spaces are not just retained but planned in new developments and will help to set minimum standards.
Many of Scotland's councils recognise the benefits of green space, with many parks and squares forming the subject of ambitious renovation proposals. Those benefits are increasingly being set in context through comprehensive surveys of green space. I know of excellent examples of that in Edinburgh and in Ayrshire and I am sure that there are many more examples throughout the country.
I welcome Karen Gillon's motion and congratulate sincerely all those involved with the project as well as those at local, council and national level who share and support this renewed vision of Scotland's parks—great and small, historic and modern—as key public assets at the heart of everyday life.
Karen Gillon was kind enough to invite me to visit the parks in question. As she knows, I am always delighted to visit Lanark. As soon as my diary permits, I will be happy to accompany her to the parks, so that I can discuss in more detail with those responsible all the aspects of the project as it goes forward and so that I can see some of the work that is being done.
Meeting closed at 18:32.