Item 2 Clydebank Town Board Note 1 August 2025
West Dunbartonshire Council · 5 September 2025
Back to Clydebank Pride in Place Board — 5 September 2025 and its agenda
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1 Clydebank Neighbourhood Board Meeting 1 August 2025 Clydebank Housing Association Item: Note of previous meeting Clydebank Neighbourhood Board 1 August 2025 1.30 pm Boardroom, Clydebank Housing Association Members Attending Liz Connolly Principal and CE, West College Scotland (Chair) Fiona McInnes Chief Executive, Clydebank Co-op Society Laurence Slavin Chief Officer Resources, WDC Peter Hessett Chief Executive, WDC Selina Ross West Dunbartonshire CVS June Todd Community Activist Clare Steel WDC Elected Member Lawrence O’Neill WDC Elected Member Marie McNair Member of Scottish Parliament Andrew Forrester Clyde Shopping Centre Douglas McAllister Member of Parliament Christine McGuinness Golden Jubilee Hospital Apologies Simon Shanks Police Scotland Other attendees Alan Douglas Chief Officer Regulatory & Regeneration, WDC Elaine Troup Economic Development Manager, WDC Gail MacFarlane Chief Officer, Roads & Neighbourhoods, WDC Michelle Lynn Asset Manager, WDC Davina Lavery Regeneration Officer, WDC Brian McColgan Business Support Officer, WDC
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2 1. Welcome by Chair Action Liz Connolly (LC) welcomed everyone to the meeting. 2. Previous Minutes and Actions Marie McNair (MMcN) noted that her apologies had been given for the previous meeting. Alan Douglas (AD) reminded all Members that a Declaration of Interests form should be competed and returned to him. Elaine Troup (ET) said that she has been trying to secure representation for disabled stakeholders and would progress this. LC said that Sandie Scott of the Golden Jubilee had agreed to assume the role of Vice Chair. LC also said that she will pursue representation for Housing stakeholders. Lawrence O’Neill (LON) noted the misspelling of his name at page 5 of the Minutes. BMcC AD/Board ET LC BMcC 3 Review of Workshop Report LC updated the Board on a meeting with Plan for Neighbourhood (PfN) officials. Research on PfN areas has been carried out by an American based Consultant. The Consultant had attempted to interact with harder to reach groups. A common finding across Pfn areas was that crime and Anti-Social behaviour were concerns in PfN areas. A full report for Clydebank will be published in due course. The research also looked at “Brand Recognition” of the PfN. In headline terms 8% of respondents said that were aware of the PfN. The UK Government will run this research exercise on a recurring basis. Lc asked ET and Davina Lavery (Dl) to go through the outputs from the recent workshop exercise as a sense check of the decisions reached at the workshop. ET proposed going through the potential projects using the “Green, Amber, Red” categorisation adopted at the workshop. Discussion took place and this is summarised below alongside reminder of the various projects: Green Projects/Yes • 2 Improvements and activation to Three Queens Square • 3 Transform the existing railway viaducts with lighting and public art and develop a lighting / public art strategy for town centre and key connecting routes • 5 & 7 Develop of a series of new walking / cycling trails (Heritage / Active / Dog Walking / Safe Walking etc.) & Strengthen connectivity and accessibility to and from town centre for surrounding communities, Queens Quay and the Golden Jubilee Hospital
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3 • 12 Make Improvements to public transport provision – discussion required with SPT • 14 Introduce a new town square / events space adjacent to Co-operative building on Sylvania Way Amber Projects/Maybe Keep projects 1, 11, 13 and 16. Remove projects 6, 15 and possibly 8 &10 (See notes in italics) • 1 Introduce a series of ‘meanwhile’ uses to vacant / underlet buildings and spaces throughout the town centre – use to test the appetite for new projects and interventions. Gives opportunity to try pop up uses and if they are successful, they could be introduced permanently. • 6 Undertake public realm improvements within town centre – this intervention is to be removed as a stand-alone project but if public realm improvements are required as part of another intervention then there could be opportunity for improvements to be undertaken. • 8 Develop a new all ages greenspace at the heart of the town centre – concern was expressed about the future maintenance of any new greenspace. Feeling that it should not be included if there is no resources to maintain it. • 10 Work with West College Scotland to bring elements of their public facing services (hair and beauty / catering etc. to the town centre – if to be included needs to be discussed with West College Scotland • 11 Improve accessibility by providing new public welfare facilities including a changing places toilet, improved seating and sheltered areas within the town centre – to be retained. Cllr Steele noted need for disabled changing place within the town centre • 13 Introduce more diverse uses to Co-operative Building and other heritage assets to safeguard their future – retain this intervention • 15 Develop a new market hall / community building at heart of the town centre framing proposed town square – remove this intervention. Better to focus on securing the reuse of the Co-op building rather than creating new buildings in the vicinity. The feasibility of a new uses could be explored in the longer-term using capacity funding. • 16 Create new serviced development platforms with associated streetscape and public realm, to facilitate the Introduction of new mixed-use residential blocks south of the canal at the heart of the town centre – keep as a longer-term ambition and explore feasibility options using capacity funding. Red Projects/No
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4 Remove both projects 4 and 9. • 4 Introduce a new Canalside Activity Centre – little likelihood of being to secure an operator. • 9 Encourage new workplace (flexible co-work / maker spaces) at the heart of the town centre – not considered to be enough demand for this within Clydebank Other potential projects were discussed: A Enhancing the Titan Crane area to support visitor activity and strengthen the riverside focus – not to be included as an intervention. B Upgrading the Truth and Justice Square – the potential completion of Truth & Justice Square could be significant especially from the point of view of marking the impacts on Clydebank of asbestos C Bringing underused properties back into use for housing, to help create a living town centre – it was noted that this is not a pre-approved PfN intervention. D Encouraging a skills and business presence within the town centre to support economic vitality New Interventions DL informed the Board that there a raft of new interventions had been introduced into the PfN. These were not included at the time of the Board’s initial consultation/engagement with the local community and it may be worth updating the consultation/engagement work to include these. LC thanked DL for her input. There was discussion around any further consultation/engagement. Key points raised included: • The danger of “consultation fatigue” • The UK Government were supportive of the approach taken by the Board to consultation/engagement. • Clydebank has a long history of consultation/engagement, e.g. the Charette. • The importance of taking a “You said, we did” approach. • While the targeted approach to consultation/engagement was good it is important to reach the general population of Clydebank as well. This could possibly be done via the WDC Communities Team. Alignment with Scottish Government Regeneration Strategy – it was moted that there is a requirement for the PfN to align with the Scottish Government’s Regeneration Strategy. While it was thought that the PfN does align with this the possibility of closer working with the Scottish
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5 Government was raised, e.g. inviting SG staff to a Board meeting. LC would progress this. Drafting & Submission of Plan DL reminded the Board that the Plan has to be submitted by 28 November. Discussion followed. It was felt that WDC does not have the capacity to develop and produce the plan in the format required and the timescale required. While the UK Government have discouraged the over use of consultants by PfN Boards, it was noted that the use of consultants to help develop plans is compliant. It was agreed to use consultants to develop the Plan. (Douglas Mc Allister left the meeting at 3pm to attend his Consitituency Surgery) Plan Submission Questions DL informed the Board that there is an extensive list of questions to be responded to alongside submission of the Plan and asked if the Board were happy to delegate this to the WDC Regeneration Team. LON suggested that this be done in consultation with the Chair of the Board. The Board agreed to this. LC WDC WDC 4 Recruitment of Project Resource LC informed the Board that some other PfN areas have recruited for a dedicated Project Manager type role, e.g. Dumfries. This presented issues around the Job Description, Person Specification and range of skills required by such a post, as well as the issue of the actual employer. Discussion followed. Points raised included • Other models were raised , e.g. Laurence Slavin asked if the post might lend itself to a self-employment type position. • Potential for Chamber of Commerce to host the post. The Business Improvement District Manager post might be comparable. It was agreed that LC should progress this and discuss details with PH. LC/PH 5 Board Membership and Governance LC reminded the Board that a Vice Chair (Sandie Scott) had been agreed. LC asked if the Board membership needed to be supplemented in the following areas/sectors West College Scotland. It was noted that LC was no longer representing the College. It was agreed that the College should be represented. LC would progress this. Housing – LC to speak to Lynette Lees with a view to identifying a Housing representative for the Board. LC LC
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6 Private Sector – Noted that Clyde Shopping Centre and the Co-operative are represented on the Board. Also noted that the Chamber of Commerce while invited to join the Board, they haven’t fully engaged and should be contacted to ascertain their position/participation. Youth – It was noted that the original youth representative has not been in attendance at recent meetings. WDC Youth Worker to be contacted to identify another representative. Other possibilities included the Member of the Scottish Youth Parliament. PH suggested that a more flexible approach to youth representation might be worth adopting, e.g. let the Youth Council know they are entitled to representation rather than identify one individual to attend. DL made the point that the Plan should be flexible, so should flexibility be applied to Board membership as well? LC agreed that this was a good point. Governance Christine McGuinness (CMcG) asked if Board meetings are or should be open to the general public. (UK Government guidance does not insist that meetings are held in public.) This arose from an enquiry from the Clydebank Post around attending meetings. LC said that she awas also going to raise this issue. Discussion followed. Points made included: • The Board is still in its relative infancy and may require to develop more before holding meetings publicly. • Holding meetings publicly may inhibit full and free contributions from members. • A public facing event has to be held annually by the Board. • The Board as it stands is transparent, i.e. papers made publicly available. LC WDC 6 Finance Summary and Project Resource ET spoke to the Finance summary. There has been little change to the finances since the previous meeting. 7 Marketing and Communications CMcG updated the group. Sandie Scott (SS) had attended the UK Government PfN event at Westminster. Key points included: • Positive feedback on the progress the PfN Board has made. • English PfN Boards expressed an interest in networking. • SS also spoke with PfN representatives from Kilmarnock and Arbroath. The Communications Sub-group was due to meet week commencing 4th August with a view to refreshing the Communications Plan. It was asked if the Board also had an Engagement Plan and suggested that this could be incorporated into the Communications Plan. Comms Subgroup
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7 Referencing the issue around meeting in public, it was said that a meeting with the Clydebank Post and involving WDC PR staff would be worthwhile having. LC raised the issue of a website for the PfN. Many other PfN areas do have a website. CMcG noted that UK Government branding regulations would allow the Board to develop their own branding, possibly through a local competition. Comms Subgroup Comms Subgroup Comms Subgroup 8 Any Other Business None 9 Dates of Next Meetings Proposed dates of next meetings: 5th September, 3 October, 31 October, 30 January. Agenda Item Action By Whom 2 Emend previous meeting minutes Complete Declarations of Interest Progress representation from disabled stakeholders BMcC AD/Board ET 3 Progress development & submission of investment plan Progress closer working with Scottish Government Regeneration section WDC LC 4 Progress project management resource LC/PH 5 Progress representation of West College Scotland Progress representation of Housing sector Re-engage with Chamber of Commerce/other private sector stakeholders Re-engage with youth sector LC LC LC WDC Refresh Communications Plan and develop and integrate Engagement Plan Progress website and branding Comms Subgroup