On the northern most edge of Glasgow lies Milton, out
of sight, out of mind. Constructed in a 1950’s rush to provide accommodation
for the masses, Milton started life unequal, with a lack of facilities, leading
to a lack of cohesion.
Sixty years later, the effects of these poor decisions
of planning are still plain to see, with even the most meagre of facilities
bestowed upon Milton during its lifetime, are now falling by the wayside,
decrepit, unused.
Milton is sick. Twenty per cent of its population are
on anti - depressants and almost half of people at working age are unemployed.
Thirty-nine per cent of people live in poverty and houses sell for £40,000 less
than the national average. Statistics like these indicate a downward spiral,
leading to more of the above and less investment leading to more of the above.
The lack opportunity and integration in Milton is
palpable. During the day the streets are deserted, and around the shops there
is little more than a trickle of activity. There is no-where for people to
meet, no bars, no cafes. Therefore people become isolated in their own homes
for long periods of time. When there is a party or a get together it is
outside, in the nearby fields, only evidenced by mountains of beer cans and
left over bunting. There is a desire to get together; there just isn’t a
vehicle.
Recently however, there has been a change in Milton. A
group of people who saw this deprivation realised that Milton deserved better
and they started up an organisation called Love Milton.
Varied in its ambition, Love Milton aims to make
Milton a great place to live. Give it places for people to meet and be
productive. Its projects include a community garden, which aims produce fresh food for the local community; The Milton Brand, bringing out the
creativity in the local people by designing clothing and jewellery; Bothy 75, a
cafe run by local volunteers in the local church and cans for the community,
which turns the mountains of cans into money.
These projects have made a big difference to Milton.
It has shown the people involved that someone cares, has given a vehicle to
make the changes and, most importantly, shown that they can make a change together.
Love Milton has now done enough so that its presence
can be seen. Whether it is the orchard planted in the local school or the
activity going on around the community garden, people can see that something is
happening.
All this progress, however, needs a home, in order for
Love Milton to continue to progress. The hope is that this home will be
achieved through the most exciting project of all, The Big Build.
Designed by two Glasgow based architects, The Big Build will provide the centre that Milton so clearly lacks. It will provide
accommodation not only for Love Milton but also other local community, sports
and religious groups as well as providing a place to just get out of the house,
use the internet or have a coffee.
It is even more encouraging that the building is
designed to be made (at least partially) by local volunteers, out of reclaimed
materials and will be truly pioneering if it gets the funding that it deserves.
However, this funding can be hard to come by in times
of austerity, especially for such an ambitious project. So it has started off
small with the little build, a pilot project to show that Love Milton’s
ambitions are no pipe dream.
This project is well underway and on its way to
completion. The volunteers have been varied and it has brought people together
who would normally never meet, let alone interact, share ideas and
experiences. This sharing of ideas has in turn made the project more efficient as more and more volunteers come up with better systems for doing the tasks involved.
Love Milton is by no means the cure to all Milton’s
ills. Nor is the community building going to magically solve sixty years of
neglect and decay. That much is ingrained. However, the on going projects are
providing a vehicle to get people moving to make a change in their own backyard
and creating more of an attachment to Milton the place. Love Milton is the
start of a process and it is this that makes it refreshing. It is not a new
school or a sports centre built to become a statistic during elections, it is a
journey aiming to achieve something that is unquantifiable: community,
belonging and pride. It is this that will make Milton an enjoyable place to
live, I just hope it is given the right conditions to flourish and succeed.
