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Many community and voluntary groups have said to us that they’d really love to engage youth volunteers, but they don’t quite know how. They know there are many benefits, but it feels like a tricky, unachievable process. So we’ve pulled together this free event to try to demystify youth volunteering and show how easy it can be. The agenda is below. We’ve some fantastic speakers lined up including our local Member of Scottish Youth Parliament, the Linlithgow Academy Pupil Council Chair, LYPP Youthworkers, West Lothian Volunteer Gateway and more.

Agenda
– Why engage youth volunteers? Hearing from some local young people about what they can bring to community groups, how they can benefit these groups, and why they’d like to get involved.
– How to engage youth volunteers? A youth worker from LYPP will talk us through how to engage youth volunteers; how to get their attention, what requirements there are in terms of supervision, parental permission and PVG checks and how to navigate these considerations.

REFRESHMENTS BREAK

– Saltire Awards We will hear from a member of West Lothian Voluntary Sector Gateway about what the Saltire awards are, how to get involved with them as an organisation, and why you’d want to.

– Year of Young People 2018 A brief overview of Scotland’s Year of Young People 2018, including how to get involved.

– Future of Youth Volunteering in Linlithgow We will outline our plans for the coming year, supporting organisations to involve youth volunteers. This will include helping groups prepare to be available as work experience placements, running a volunteering Roadshow, and participating in the Youth Philanthropy Initiative, which could see a community group being awarded £3000.

– Time for questions, networking and discussion

If you’d like more information please email rebecca@trust-linlithgow.org.uk.

We’re pleased to announce our second Community Cake event. By popular demand, this time our topic is Funding and Fundraising. We’ve some fantastic speakers lined up so remember to book your place!

It was wonderful to meet with staff at the Academy last month to chat through some ideas for the school making use of the West Lothian Cycle Circuit, and volunteering opportunities for young people within the town.

The proximity of the cycle circuit site to the Academy offers many of possibilities for school pupils – from setting up an After School Cycling Club, running bike maintenance classes, and opportunities to learn about organising cycling events and cycle coaching, as part of the school’s Sport Leader course. We also talked about the potential for developing the Academy as a School of Cycling, replicating the successful School of Rugby model. The floodlit circuit will also provide a great facility for the school running club to use when evenings start getting darker.

We discussed how the Trust can help match young people to local volunteering opportunities, as well as helping local groups tailor volunteering opportunities to suit needs and skills of young people. As a result, we will soon be speaking to S5 and S6 pupils about volunteering as part of their Personal Development Programme. Volunteering can build life skills, strengthen CVs and give young people a chance to contribute to the local community, and make a difference to society. We are also going to meet with the Pupil Council to find out how pupils might want to get involved in a Community Cake to meet local groups looking for new volunteers.

Our Community Groups consultation and Volunteering event held earlier in the year, helped build a picture of how LCDT can support the town’s fabulous community sector. What came through loud and clear is that Community and Voluntary Groups want more opportunities to come together, to share ideas and collaborate.

So, we have created the Linlithgow Community Cake

–      Bi-monthly free events, each focussing on a
different theme.

–      A relaxed evening, with drinks and cake, for
anyone representing a local Community
Group or Voluntary Organisation.

–      An opportunity to discuss challenges, share
tips and learn from an expert speaker.
The first Community Cake will be held on Sunday 17th September and is focussed on Recruiting Volunteers. Find out more and register your interest here.

Please make sure to RSVP to ensure we have enough space … and of course, enough cake!

We have been speaking with broad range of stakeholders over the summer, to develop the vision for the West Lothian Cycle Circuit Project. We want to provide a safe, challenging and fun facility for people. It will bring opportunities for improvements in health, well-being, confidence, active lifestyles and sports performance.

Find out more about the West Lothian Cycle Circuit and future plans.

We are holding a consultation event on Thursday 22nd June 10am-2pm and 4pm-8pm at Xcite Linlithgow Leisure Centre. Pop in to see the Masterplan, which includes:

• 1km closed road cycling and running circuit
• Cycle pump track
• Compact athletics facilities, and
• Skate park

Our Development worker, Pamela Barnes, will be there to answer questions and listen to your views. This consultation is to help inform our detailed planning application later in the year.

A great night for volunteers to celebrate their involvement in the community, connect with others, and enjoy a bit of a well-deserved party! Also a wonderful way for organisations to say thank you to their volunteers! We’d love to see as many local volunteers as possible at the event, so we can all say – WE LOVE YOU! To register, please email rebecca@trust-linlithgow.org.uk.

Over the next couple of months Linlithgow Community Development Trust is reaching out to all 140+ community organisations, voluntary groups and social enterprises across Linlithgow. The Trust is inviting groups to take part in a survey asking about your needs, challenges and priorities.

Take part now!

LCDT is a community organisation formed by residents of Linlithgow and Linlithgow Bridge to deliver change to benefit the community. Overall, we want to look at how the Town can become more self-sufficient, imaginative and enterprising. We appreciate that to be ambitious for our Town we need to work collaboratively and in partnership with others.

To date the Trust has primarily focussed on progressing an outdoor multi-sport facility with a range of local stakeholders, which is now well underway.  We recognise that it is now time to re-engage with community groups as well as explore other social enterprise opportunities.

Findings from the survey will inform our focus of work over the next year. This might be ways to help groups work together, joint training for volunteers, help with funding applications, organising shared resources or ways to develop social enterprise ideas.

Pamela Barnes, LCDT’s Development Worker says…

“Linlithgow has a huge amount of positive community led action and voluntary work happening, through voluntary groups, charities and social enterprises.  There are lots of opportunities for us to work together, develop new ideas and deliver even better services and activities. We want to know how we can support this, to make Linlithgow an even better place for everyone.”

Do you help run a local community group?

Local groups, organisations, clubs, societies, associations, charities, social enterprises… if you’re involved in Linlithgow, we’d love to hear from you!

Survey closes Monday 6^th March, so take part now and get in on the conversation.

Then, on 14^th March we are hosting a Community Summit at the Burgh Halls

All community groups are invited to attend. This event is to share and discuss survey findings, as well as offer a range of facilitated workshops on key issues such as leadership; volunteering; funding; governance; marketing and enterprise. The day will be a great networking opportunities for a diverse range of local groups, and to find out more about the Linlithgow Community Development Trust.

It is so important for every local community organisation, voluntary group and social enterprise to take part and complete the survey. It only takes 15 minutes!

Three easy ways to complete the survey:

1. You can complete the survey online

2. Arrange a visit from Pamela, our friendly Development Worker, at a time that suits you

3. Drop in to the Vennel Office (across from the library). Anytime from Monday 20th – Thursday 23rd February between 9am – 3pm

To arrange a visit or if you need any assistance with the survey, please email Pamela or call her on 07981 922 490 or.  Remember, the survey closes on Monday 6^th March.

Let’s get better at working together!

Thank you to those who submitted your ideas for improving the air quality on Linlithgow High Street. There is certainly no shortage of ideas from the few people who responded.

When the formal community consultation process starts I hope that many more will get involved. Nobody wants to live in a ‘pollution zone‘!

Ideas range from large scale road infrastructure improvements, High Street improvements; promoting cleaner modes of transport; enouraging behaviour change; wider evaluation/planning and learning from previous studies.

It is clear from this very long list below that the process for identifying the best mix and most feasible measures needs to be transparent and based on sound evidence.

Measures need to improve air quality not only in the short term, but taking into consideration anticipated developments, and based on an understanding of traffic flows and how measures are projected to affect traffic and thereby improve air quality.

These initial ideas from the community were submitted to the Air Quality Management Area Steering Group meeting on 16th January. This group consists of relevant West Lothian Council Departments and Statutory Bodies, plus the appointed consultant tasked with drafting an Action Plan by December 2017.

The forthcoming community consultation process will be vital to ensure decisions are informed by people who use the High Street, not just those who manage it. Details of the community consultation are still to  be announced.

INITIAL LIST OF AIR QUALITY IMPROVEMENT IDEAS FROM THE COMMUNITY

Road infrastructure

• West access slip roads at M9 junction 3 must be higher priority than is proposed in SESS Plan.
• M9 motorway junction to divert traffic
• Create 4-way motorway junction at Burghmuir.
• Investigate link from Preston Road to Lanark Road at Preston Farm.
• By -pass roads network from Blackness Road to Edinburgh Road then south to Dechmont Road and Bathgate Road.
• Create road from Edinburgh Road canal bridge traffic lights up to top of Manse Road thus re-directing traffic that don’t need to pass through the High St.
• Divert traffic to places of lower pollution

General Improvements to the High Street

• Traffic reduction on the High Street should be a key aim.
• Special Trees that absorb pollutants on both sides of the High street throughout its length.
• Pedestrianize the High Street (or at least part of it)
• Promote outdoor café/seating
• Stop double parking, especially close to the railway station.
• Employ emission control officers – explore no idling zones – fixed penalty notices?
• Need to be firmer about roadside emission testing.
• Discourage articulated vehicles from travelling through the High St.
• Support the introduction of a Low Emission Zone which bans the most polluting vehicles from the High Street at peak air pollution times.
• Improve flow
• Reduce idling traffic
• Adjusting waste bin collection times
• Better traffic management and uncontrolled use of pedestrian crossings has to be the biggest causes of interrupted traffic flow and therefore increased levels of pollution from idling engines and stop start driving in the town centre.
• Take practical steps to address idling and stop/start driving n the most notorious spots.
• Improve design of the High street to reduce congestion by
• stopping cars double parking
• finding space for business delivery lorries
• Move away from presumption vehicles dominate towards a town designed for pedestrians, cyclists and other active users.

Specific High Street improvement to aid flow and help cyclists/pedestrians

• Relocate bus stop outside RGM to High Port. Buses idle here right beside theair quality monitoring station. Buses are also too wide and waiting causes congestion.  Buses could wait at Tesco or High Port instead. A dedicated bus bay on High Port would still offer good access to the train station. Ideally complimented by steps or a path from High Port to the train station on High Port.
• Create a business delivery bay with marking outside RGM but with a narrower pavement so that cars can get past when deliveries are taking place. OR removing the post box and telephone box outside the old post office and using a bit of that pavement width to create a loading bay.
• Moving the central line on the road from low port to Taste to be more south. This would give more space beside parked cars on the north side of the street and deter double parking on the south side as the carriageway would be then too narrow.
• Adjust the central line and pavement widths from GP surgery east to the DIY shop to prevent double parking.
• Narrow road width of pedestrian crossing at Boots/Taste. Reduce distance pedestrians have to cross and slightly reduce the timing of the lights.
• Create a dedicated business loading bay near The Old Post Office for delivery vehicles on east of high street and on south side. Existing delivery vehicles are too wide and by unloading cause congestion. Bay needs designed to allow free flow of vehicles. ie pavement widths might need to change a little.
• Bias/Adjust timing of Skew Bridge traffic lights on High Port to allow more time for traffic travelling east from roundabout. At peak times, cars queue back to and through Low Port roundabout and cause congestion.
• Adjust pavement west and north of Oliphants to be wider and thus to deter cars from parking on yellow lines and causing obstruction.
• Remove parallel on-pavement parking bays and replace with clearly defined and edged parking bays.
• Remove cobbles from High St at the Cross. Return to tarmac. Safer for cyclists, quieter for tourists/pedestrians, cheaper to maintain and helps vehicles flow more smoothly.
• Adjust road markings and pavement widths to create clear lane widths suitable for 1 vehicle plus a bike. At certain locations the road is too wide and this encourages cars to double park which in turn then restricts road width and brings bikes and vehicles into space conflict.

Parking

• Park and Ride areas on entrance to town. Initially served by No38 bus route at Edinburgh and Falkirk Roads.  Later using electric buses to train station.
• Compulsory purchase of Bowmore Morrison’s Whisky warehouses and demolish and build car park.
• Off-road parking should be free and High St parking should be charged beyond an initial free time (as advocated by WLC Active Travel Officer in the past)
• No parking on High St to support cycle lanes and improve traffic flow
• Changing nose-in parking to nose-out. Cars should stop and reverse into their space and not reverse out onto the main highway, which slows traffic.
• Remove on pavement parking bays and replace with proper bays with a kerb.
• Hire a parking warden to move people on or fine them
• Remove parking fees for first hour from Cross Car Park. Needs marketed and signed to let people know it’s free.
• Add parking charges for more than 3-4hrs in Water Yett car park as it’s being used by commuters and causes stress for those needing to access the GP for an appointment.
• Compulsory purchase of land on Edinburgh road and create a car park for the train station. At the same time, remove parking bays on Edinburgh road. Provide free parking for E road residents within.

Cleaner modes of transport

• Promote direct public transport to Livingston and Bathgate / Heartlands.
• Provide more frequent public transport in town.
• Promote public transport.
• Improve the bus service/s
• Improve local bus services.
• Work with bus operators to access Green Bus Fund or other low carbon transport funds to obtain electric buses and develop electric public transport infrastructure.
• Promote active travel
• Cycle lanes – (and make it safe for cyclists) – Space for cycle toolkit
• Dedicated cycle paths through High St so those that can cycle feel safe to cycle.
• Provide sustained, long-term investment in both cycling and walking, reaching 10% of the transport budget.
• Measures need to be viewed in tandem with active travel action plan priorities.
• Promote alternative modes of transport
• Create a ramp access to the canal towpath at Edinburgh Road/Maidlands to provide a viable alternative route to main roads. Access to canal towpath from east is very limited from Springfield.
• Improve bike storage at Leisure Centre
• Improve bike storage at Linlithgow Academy
• Improve pavement and cycle way from Capstan Walk to Regent Centre.
• Resurface Capstan Walk
• Promote car free weekends
• Support creating of a Car Club of electric vehicles. Multiple dedicated marked parking bays in various locations across town with charging points.

Promote behaviour change

• Supply masks to under 5s! (if the air pollution problem was visible – then people would act)
• Community education and awareness sessions on the health impacts of air pollution
• Promote switching to cleaner vehicles
• Campaign actively and advertise to encourage walking and cycling with more disabled spaces for less able bodied.

Wider evaluation/planning

• Is there a way of identifying the type of vehicle where emissions are coming from? How many pass through during the day?
• Undertake a Community Street Audit (Living Streets) to identify measures to improve air quality the viewpoint of the people who use the streets, rather than those who manage them. This involves Living Street working with small groups of local residents, traders, councillors and officers to assess a route on foot, then producing a detailed report with recommendations.
• A markable map of the town, similar to the one used during active travel plan consultation, would be very useful for residents to annotate specific issues needing fixed.
• Air quality should be recognised as key part of planning decision criteria for all major planning projects
• Take into consideration the relevant content in the Linlithgow ‘Plan for the Future’ (2015-2030)
  (pp 10, 11, 17, 28 and 29).
• The Local Develop Plan needs to state how air quality issues will be addressed, such as:
  • land-use planning in favour of centralised locations, otherwise further developments away from the centre will further compound the significant volumes of short-distance car use.
  • provision of high quality/safe/direct walking and cycling routes to encourage fewer short distance journeys by car.
  • development promoting behaviour change programmes to facilitate modal shift of shorter journeys to walking and cycling is supported in principle.
  • robust/enforced parking restrictions in the town centre to better control traffic coming into town (both numbers, vehicle flows -stop-start looking for spaces- and turning manoeuvres which impede road safety).

Learning from previous studies and other areas

• Halcrow Fox did a study for WLC years ago. Any findings from that report that would be helpful now?
• Consider proposals (attached) produced a number of years ago by the Community Council and other local organisations at the request of the Town Management Group.
• It would be interesting to see what measures have been taken elsewhere. http://www.scottishairquality.co.uk/laqm/aqma

The newly established Air Quality Management Area Steering Group is seeking ideas from community groups on possible measures to improve air quality on the High Street. This is the community’s first opportunity to feed into this process. Linlithgow Community Development Trust is seeking your views!

A provisional list will be shortlisted by an independent consultant using a screening criteria for inclusion in a draft Action Plan. This will then be the subject of a full public consultation later in 2017.

Please post your ideas on our facebook page or email pamela@trust-linlithgow.org.uk by 30^th November 2016.

Background

Air quality on Linlithgow’s High Street fails European air quality standards (as confirmed by this detailed air quality monitoring study). This required that the council declare an Air Quality Management Area (AQMA), which is now in place. Development of the statutory Action Plan is underway, funded by the Scottish Government.

In April the whole of Linlithgow was declared an Air Quality Management Area given the fundamental importance of the High Street to the town’s transport links.

On Linlithgow’s High Street real time monitoring will continue, and data from the monitoring site automatically populates the Scottish Government’s Air Quality website.

Friends of the Earth Scotland provide useful background information on air pollution.

Progress in 2016

An independent consultant, Ricardo, is now appointed to support the action planning process. They are also undertaking a detailed source apportionment analysis. This will identify the main sources of the air pollution.

In October West Lothian Council convened a steering group to oversee the statutory action planning process. The group includes representatives from Council Planning and Transport departments, Town Centre Management, plus Abellio ScotRail, Police Scotland, SEPA and Transport Scotland.

The meeting established a list of provisional action plan measures, and agreed to establish early contact with community groups to seek any additional ideas.

The steering group shall meet every 3 – 4 months. The next stage will be to short list measures through a screening criteria.

A dedicated Air Quality Management Area Linlithgow web page continues to be regularly updated.

Future Action

Working with the external consultants’ support, the steering group will develop a draft Air Quality Action Plan. Once approved by the Council the draft Action Plan will be subject to a public consultation. Following public consultation, consideration of feedback and Council approval, a final Action Plan will be published. After this Scottish Government and other funding will be sought to deliver the identified measures to improve air quality.

Aim is for a final Action Plan to be in place by December 2017.