SKS carried out a Feasibility Study and Business Plan for Cardowan Community Meadow SCIO, examining the option of buying the play park on behalf of the community.
Cardowan is an ex-mining village, located north-east of Glasgow, and is recognised as an area of multiple deprivation. Although the village has grown considerably over the last 30 years with new housing developments it has few community assets. Recent community consultation shows strong support for the play park to be community-led and explore alternative ways of managing it.
The purchase of the play park would include also taking ownership of small areas of fringe land (grass areas along the roadside / fences), a path and a road. The play park, amenity areas and additional grass areas are currently maintained by various factors, the service and benefit of which is questioned by many residents who have to pay a monthly fee.
After carrying out a community needs analysis, further stakeholder consultation, and examination of CCM’s governance and how the model would operate, an activities plan and development opportunites, the outcomes and benefits, partnerships, how it would fit with local and national strategies, the financial forecasts, risks and mitigation, and how the project would be delivered / next steps, a phased development approach was recommended.
