Much has changed for the better in the Garnock Valley over the last decade - the rejuvenation of Geilsland in Beith, the Garnock Community Campus and Lochshore, and Dalry's community garden and Community Sports Club, to name but a few things.
There's always more action needed to tackle the challenges our communities face. But what?
During 2024, community groups across the Garnock Valley are coming together to produce a plan for community action and public services & facilities, supported by North Ayrshire Council and a specialist team.
The plan will map out future priorities for community action and public investment in our main towns of Beith, Dalry and Kilbirnie, plus the villages of Barrmill, Burnhouse, Gateside, Glengarnock, Longbar and surrounding countryside.
It will be the community’s agenda for future action and investment, as well as being a Local Place Plan to guide future development.
The Plan will be our plan, for our Garnock Valley, based on our priorities. Read on to find out how you can shape it.
HOW YOU CAN SHAPE THE PLAN
Although the new plan for the Garnock Valley has to learn from what’s come before, it should not simply be a rehash of old ideas. Circumstances change, things progress, and people move on. Any plan for the future needs to reflect that.
The plan needs to understand people’s current aspirations for life in the Garnock Valley: what do we as a community want for the future?
So, during the second half of 2024 and early 2025 there will be three stages of activity to give you plenty of opportunities to answer that question, and make sure that the new plan is rooted in what you - the community - wants.
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First of all, we’re not starting from scatch. As you can see if you scroll down this page, there’s a wealth of information from the last decade’s work across the Garnock Valley. That’s our starting point.
To complement that, in summer 2024 everyone in the Garnock Valley was given the opportunity to say what they want for the Garnock Valley, by answering a few simple questions on a survey delivered to every household and business.
You can see an analysis of the 750 responses further down this webpage.
We’re also engaging directly with young people (through the Garnock Valley Youth Forum and local schools), a small selection of local businesses to understand their future aspirations, and the Garnock Valley Local Disability Forum.
All this information creates a strong foundation to move onto the second stage.
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Attention shifts to community events across the Garnock Valley to share and explore the aspirations revealed in the first stage, compare them to previous work, reflect on other information that’s available, and agree priorities for the Plan. The main focus will be events in each town.
Dates for your diary:
Kilbirnie: Wednesday 13th November (Bridgend Community Centre)
Beith: Thursday 14th November (Beith Community Centre)
Dalry: Friday 22nd November (St Margaret’s Church Hall)
On each day there will be a range of activities, so you can choose how to join in:
12pm to 6pm - drop in for a cuppa and a bite to eat, see the results of the community survey and other information, and chat to the team about your ideas and what comes next. We’re planning short presentations on the half hour for those present.
2:30 sharp to 4pm - walkabout in the town centre to talk about opportunities and challenges, including key buildings, open spaces and routes
6pm sharp to 8pm - community chitchat to hear from local people what they’re doing and have planned, followed by a facilitated workshop to work out what actions we should take to respond to community priorities. It should be an exciting event!
Everybody is welcome. We’d love to see you. The kettle will be on!
We’ll also be holding shorter village events in Barrmill/Burnhouse, Gateside and Glengarnock. These will take place in December or January.
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This will kick off with production of a first draft of the Plan for everyone to check and improve. It won’t be a done deal at this stage: the whole point is to test it and make it better.
The Plan will then be updated before going to North Ayrshire Council for registration as a “Local Place Plan”. You can find out more about what that means on this page.
Then we all get on with the hard work of making the Plan happen!
For more information on each stage, expand the sections below:
WE’RE NOT STARTING FROM SCRATCH
The first foundation of a good plan is work that’s already been done. And the Garnock Valley has had plenty of surveys, consultations and plans over the last decade.
We’ve brought all that information together in one place, as it contains vital pointers for the future.
Check out previous work to access the online library of over 20 plans and reports from the last 10 years, together with a summary of what they say.
To give an up-to-date picture of community priorities for the new Plan, almost 750 people across the Garnock Valley completed a survey in summer 2024.
You can get a sense of community priorities across the Garnock Valley from the infographic below. The survey identified nine persistent challenges which have come up again and again over the last 10 years, and asked people which should be priorities for action by scoring each one from 1 (least important) to 5 (most important). 742 people responded:
COMMUNITY SURVEY 2024
The survey then asked what actions should be taken to tackle those persistent challenges - across the Garnock Valley as a whole, and within individual towns and villages.
As well as pinpointing clear priorities for the new Plan to focus on, the results give a fascinating insight into community aspirations, as these infographics show:.
To see the survey results in full, including transcriptions of all responses, download this detailed report. It’s full of great ideas and gems of information!
Quite apart from forming the foundation of the new Plan, the survey results are valuable evidence in their own right for anybody who is making decisions about the Garnock Valley… the Council, Scottish Government, Transport Scotland, NHS and other public, private and voluntary bodies.
YOU’VE TOLD US WHAT YOU THINK.
NOW LET’S DECIDE WHAT TO DO.
The results of the community survey shouldn’t come as a surprise. These challenges have persisted for many years. But what are we going to do about them?
That’s the focus of three community events taking place in Beith, Dalry and Kilbirnie in mid November 2024.
KILBIRNIE: Wednesday 13th November Bridgend Community Centre
BEITH: Thursday 14th November Beith Community Centre
DALRY: Friday 22nd November St Margaret’s Church Hall
Everybody is welcome. Come to any event you like. We'd love to see you. 😀
The timings are the same across all three days:
12pm to 6pm Drop-in
Pop in any time to see the detailed results of the community survey and other information, chat to the team about your ideas, and share your suggestions of what needs to happen. We’re planning short presentations on the half hour.
2:30 sharp to 4pm
Walkabout in the town centre to talk about opportunities and challenges, including key buildings, open spaces and routes
6pm sharp to 8pm
Community chitchat to hear from local people what they’re doing and have planned, followed by lots of conversation to work out what actions we should take to respond to community priorities. It should be an exciting event!
Free soup and a bite to eat will be available all day. 🍲 🌮 ☕ 🍪 The kettle will be on!
Shorter village events will also be held in Barrmill/Burnhouse, Gateside and Glengarnock in the next couple of months.
At the events, facts and figures relating to the challenges facing the Garnock Valley will be on display on information boards. You can see them in the gallery below or download a PDF of them all.
If you think of other things after the events or can’t get to any of them, you can still contribute until 30th November:
Make a specific suggestion to tackle the community priorities
What would you like to do to help?
YOUR EXPERIENCE OF GETTING ABOUT
Getting around without a car is one of our persistent challenges.
To tackle this, we need to understand exactly where local people want to get to and from, how, and when.
The Council and other local organisations want to start tackling this now, rather than wait for the Plan to be finished.
You can help by completing this survey. Your responses will guide public transport improvements. Deadline: 8th December 2024.
KEEP UP-TO-DATE
This webpage will be updated regularly during 2024 as the Plan takes shape. Don’t forget to check back on progress.
If you want to be the first to find out about website updates, events and other news, sign up for email updates by leaving your email address below.