Love Milton

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.