Torbothie Road Community Garden Proposal
North Lanarkshire Council · 2 November 2022
Back to Petitions Sub-Committee — 2 November 2022 and its agenda
Text extracted from the council's PDF. Layout and reading order may differ from the original.
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North Lanarkshire Council Report Petitions Sub Committee Does this report require to be approved? ☒ Yes ☐ No Ref SP/LP Date 17/10/22 Petition – Torbothie Road Community Garden proposal From Stephen Penman, Head of Strategic Communication E-mail penmanste@northlan.gov.uk Telephone 07947 997750 1. Background 1.1 The petition was received by the Council on 1st August 2022 and linked to ongoing engagement around the proposal for this site, local residents and the main petitioner Marlyn Thomson were informed that the petition would be referred to the petitions subcommittee. 1.2 The petition contains the signature of 83 residents Executive Summary The purpose of this report is to advise Committee of a petition received by the Council objecting to the proposed community garden at the Torbothie greenspace site. Recommendations It is recommended that Committee: (1) considers the content of the petition; (2) acknowledges the decision to not proceed with the community garden proposal at this time and remove the site from the list of surplus assets so that the council will retain operation control of the land (3) Acknowledges the plan to sow wildflowers at the site to ensure it can be retained for community use whilst minimising ongoing maintenance or revenue commitment from the Councils perspective (4) Notes that the Community Partnership Team will continue to work with members of the community with the aim that a group could take on operation of the site in the future The Plan for North Lanarkshire Priority Improve North Lanarkshire's resource base Ambition statement (20) Improve the involvement of communities in the decisions, and development of services and supports, that affect them
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1.3 The petition stated ‘We the undersigned residents signing this petition unanimously and strongly object to the proposed community garden in the Torbothie Greenspace. We are residents living in the direct vicinity of this proposal and support neighbours’ objections. We urge our leaders in the Council and our local councillors to her our voices and act on our behalf now. This project is not wanted!’ 2. Report 2.1 At the Shotts Community Board meeting in November 2020 Torbothie Greenspace Project was added to the Local Development Programme (LDP) list as a potential project and approved in principle pending further engagement, feasibility work and receipt of a project proposal 2.2 Following initial early receipt of a proposal for a community garden at the site, there was further dialogue with local representatives and identification that the site had been declared surplus to requirements by the Council. It was clarified at this point that any project on this site would need be community led with a local community group taking on responsibility and maintenance. 2.3 It became apparent through local engagement that while there was some support for the development of the site for community use, there was not a local group able to take responsibility for the site to allow the proposal to proceed at that time. 2.3 Pauls Parcels had previously been in discussion with North Lanarkshire Council to identify potential space for a community garden and growing area and subsequently submitted a draft idea for the Torbothie site, taking into consideration feedback from residents to date and building on the original proposal submitted by community representatives with additional growing space to meet their needs. Further local engagement and consultation took place via a survey and a drop in session. In addition to the petition and feedback from local engagement the Council received several emails from residents highlighting concern about the impact of the project on those living nearby 2.4. As a result of feedback from local people it was agreed that: • The Council will remove the land from the list of surplus assets so that the council will retain operation control of the land. • Alongside the Biodiversity Team the land will be sown with wildflowers and the existing metal fence removed from the site. • The community partnership team will continue to work with members of the community with the aim that a group could take on operation of the site in the future 2.5 The outcome is that the land will remain as an asset for the community to enjoy and will not be sold by the council. However the Council is not in a position to develop the community garden proposal further if that would mean ongoing council maintenance
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and revenue commitment. This outcome has bee ☒ notified to the members of the Shotts community board. 3. Measures of success 3.1 Local people accessing the site for recreational use 4. Supporting documentation 4.1 None Stephen Penman Head of Strategic Communication
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5. Impacts ( http://connect/report-template-guidance ) 5.1 Public Sector Equality Duty and Fairer Scotland Duty Does the report contain information that has an impact as a result of the Public Sector Equality Duty and/or Fairer Scotland Duty? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? If Yes, has an assessment been carried out and published on the council’s website? https://www.northlanarkshire.gov.uk/your-community/equalities/equality-and-fairer- scotland-duty-impact-assessments Yes ☐ No ☐ 5.2 Financial impact Does the report contain any financial impacts? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, have all relevant financial impacts have been discussed and agreed with Financial Solutions? Yes ☐ No ☐ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? 5.3 HR policy impact Does the report contain any HR policy or procedure impacts? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, have all relevant HR impacts have been discussed and agreed with People and Organisational Development? Yes ☐ No ☐ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? 5.4 Legal impact Does the report contain any legal impacts (such as general legal matters, statutory considerations (including employment law considerations), or new legislation)? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, have all relevant legal impacts have been discussed and agreed with Legal and Democratic Solutions? Yes ☐ No ☐ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? 5.5 Data protection impact Does the report / project / practice contain or involve the processing of personal data? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, is the processing of this personal data likely to result in a high risk to the data subject? Yes ☐ No ☐ If Yes, has a Data Protection Impact Assessment (DPIA) been carried out and e- mailed to dataprotection@northlan.gov.uk Yes ☐ No ☐ 5.6 Technology / Digital impact Does the report contain information that has an impact on either technology, digital transformation, service redesign / business change processes, data management, or connectivity / broadband / Wi-Fi? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact?
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Where the impact identifies a requirement for technology, has an assessment been carried out (or scheduled) by the Enterprise Architecture Governance Group (EAGG)? Yes ☐ No ☐ 5.7 Environmental / Carbon impact Does the report / project / practice contain information that has an impact on any environmental or carbon matters? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? 5.8 Communications impact Does the report contain any information that has an impact on the council’s communications activities? Yes ☒ No ☐ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the impact? Communication of decisions , engagement approach and process has been communicated via community Bord meetings, emails to residents and reports 5.9 Risk impact Is there a risk impact? Yes ☐ No ☒ If Yes, please provide a brief summary of the key risks and potential impacts, highlighting where the risk(s) are assessed and recorded (e.g. Corporate or Service or Project Risk Registers), and how they are managed?