The Nature of Douglas

With

Vision Document

August 2015

The Nature of Douglas

Data has been gathered over the past year by speaking to local people and stakeholders. This was gleaned from community events, interviews, conversations, facebook comments and so on. Detail is set out in other documents, and a high level summary is set out below indicating the community’s view of what Douglas is like.

People largely like living here and feel good about Douglas, but there is a need to strengthen further this community spirit
There are more children and young people here than the Scottish average (21% compared to 17%)
The percentage of children and young people living in the 15% most deprived data zone in relation to education and skills has increased by 28% from 54% in 2004 to 82% in 2012.
A quarter of the working population are both income and employment deprived.
25% feel they have poor healthin comparison to a Scottish average of 19%.
48% of the population noted that the people (strong community spirit, good neighbours etc) impacted most positively on their well-being.
Green space was repeatedly noted as a real opportunity, with existing groups working on open space projects from allotments to community owned energy. These groups are well supported but have low internal capacity.
There is a significant amount of community activism but often involving the same individuals
Local jobs emerged strongly as a need in the area
People feel a lot is going on, but is not communicated well and there is a need for better information in more innovative ways. A local newsletter is good, but needs to be more open and transparent and involve a wider group of local people.

There was a total of 1768 regular individual attendees/membership of 16 local groups. Total number of volunteers actively involved in these 16 groups amounted to 227 volunteers. There was a feeling that in addition to this a lot of volunteer activism goes unrecorded.

When asked how much influence groups felt they had on Council policy the response was low or very low. This is against a very high level of statutory involvement in the area.
Significant assets were identified from local support, to buildings and open space to local individual gifts and talents. A new Time Bank is being developed that will enhance this.

Some Key Survey Stats

During the Spring of 2015, a listening survey took place in the community, led by Community Renewal along with trained community connectors. Face to face conversations took place on the door step, at supermarkets, at events and at community meetings. 348 individual views were recorded. The following are the key results.

Community Assets:

133 (38%) of those stated that people and family were the main reason they liked living in Douglas. People had many positive things to say for example “People are amazing and genuine”, “People are good, no one ever gets left out” and “There are lots of hardworking people willing to get stuck in”. People who were born and bred in Douglas often felt they had a strong support network around them from family and friends with one person saying, “I wouldn’t live anywhere else because all my family are here”
The shops & local amenities and the location/area are the third and fourth most popular things people liked, with 44 people mentioning they liked where Douglas is located and 50 liking the local shops and amenities. In particular they spoke about the Dighty Burn and the surrounding countryside and living close to shops. One person said “We have everything, the beach, the woods and close to town” and another said “Everything is on your doorstep”. Tlocal street cleanser stated, “Wouldn’t want to sweep the streets anywhere else”
A number of people mentioned the Community Centre (34 people), church, schools’ and library as things that were good about Douglas. One person expressed that there are, “Loads of groups and things happening in Douglas”. The groups and clubs available in Douglas were liked by 26 of the local residents.
Community spirit in Douglas was mentioned by 34 people. Conveyed by a local who said, “It’s a very down to earth community”

Community Challenges :

When asked what people disliked about living in Douglas, 96 people (27%) said that the drug & alcohol issues were their main concern. One 13 year old boy voiced his concern by saying, “The drug and alcohol situation makes me feel bad”. Other people with similar concerns said, “Douglas has a bad name because of the drug issues”, “Douglas would be good if not for the drug problem”. There was a common feeling amongst residents that they were no longer happy to use the local chemist because, “Drug users get preferential treatment in the chemist”
This particular question evoked memories in people about the way Douglas used to be compared to how they feel about it in the present, “It’s gone into decline”, “It used to be great”, “ Douglas has a bad reputation now”, “Douglas is labelled as a poor area” and “Douglas used to be the place everyone wanted to live” People seemed to be somewhat disappointed with what they see as degeneration in Douglas with one stating there is, “Lack of forethought from the council”. There is a feeling amongst some people that Douglas has changed for the worse over the years. A lack of amenities for young peoples was something 66 people stated as a dislike, in particular somewhere for young people to be able to socialise indoors when the weather is bad with minimum cost. This could possibly tie in with the Balerno bowling green plans to get young people more involved in bowling as a sport. The committee expressed that they, “Would like young people to be involved in the bowling green”. The Skate Park is close by however not many local young people appeared to access it.
Traffic issues were mentioned by 21 people. Three concerns were discussed, one being the need for traffic calming on Balunie Drive, removing traffic calming bumps on Balunie Avenue and the third being the problems people face with the grass verges on Balunie Drive.

Future Aspirations :

Having a social space and more activities for young people was the most talked about improvement for the people of Douglas with 114 people (33%) mentioning this. One young person expressed “Not much in Douglas” Quite a number of people would like to see a social space available for young people where they could meet with friends. Although there is youth provision available at the community centre and Rock Solid, people were keen to have a less structured environment for young people.
41 residents would like to see Douglas tidied up in general. Eradicating the dog fouling problem was mentioned often. In addition it was expressed by a number of people during the survey process that the Dighty should be developed to attract visitors to the area and give local families somewhere to go. The Dighty came across as something the people from Douglas were proud of however the feelings in general were that it required work to improve it, “Sort out the Burnie”, “Clean up the Dighty Burn” “Get the community involved to improve the Dighty to make it a tourist attraction”.
The third most popular response was the need for a more exciting adventure type playground facility for the young children living in Douglas. The waste ground where the old primary school was situated has been identified as an ideal central location for an adventure playground.
Employment and training opportunities were mentioned by 33 local people. People seemed concerned for the future of the young people in the area as all the local industries had disappeared.
Having more community engagement was talked about by 34 residents. There was a common feeling amongst people that not enough was done to advertise what’s available and what’s going on in the local community. One resident stating that, “The newsletter is mainly about things in the past not about what’s coming up”

Perspective

A draft vision statement with four thematic areas was presented to the community which fed back in detail. Further discussion has taken place within Douglas with local groups and stakeholders and between the consortia partners.

In Douglas, as conversations developed and thoughts distilled regarding the key themes, it became clear that the picture is not one of a small number of distinct themes with project ideas under each. Rather a cohesive whole began to develop where emerging themes had a great degree of commonality. Projects are highly likely to cross over between themes which cannot stand alone. For example, the focus for employment, health and learning was largely on green space ideas and the need to develop green space focussed significantly on young people and families.

In addition, long term outcomes were very similar across the thematic areas.

A vision for Douglas

Our vision is that Douglas will be a strong, beautiful, empowered place that local people feel increasingly proud of. Larger numbers and kinds of people will get involved, will want to stay here, will work here and will bring up their families here.

Themes

Two over-arching themes haveemerged

Safe Attractive Open Space

There is an obvious asset here. This relates to physical open space which the community are already developing. There are a range of different spaces which are under-utilised and under-developed and there is an appetited from Dundee City Council to pass leases and ownership of some or all of these sites to the local community so there is a window of opportunity. There is an active Open Spaces Group with a number of local people and that group is constituted. Support is being provided by Community Learning and Development and Council departments have committed in-kind resources. The group is developing some small ideas (eg a men’s shed and a small family BBQ area) and has a very large number of plans. In many ways there has been a disjoint between the volume of ideas and the ability to prioritise and implement them. Though a good size, the group is largely made up of volunteers who have been heavily involved for some time. There are, however, new people starting to join and this can be encouraged.

A master-plan has already been developed but it was advanced by the local authority and needs to be re-visited in the light of greater community contribution.

We believe that within the sider Our Place vision and themes, further specific community consultation, (involving a landscape architect) needs to take place so that a challenging but achievable open space strategy can be created for the Douglas area. This will give context for the following project areas;

Space to play : The skate park and fun factory on the fringes of the area is a good asset, but targets certain young people. Many users are from outwith the area and it offers indoor play to small children and skatepark facilities to those that are interested in that. There was an old play park in Douglas that everyone loved and was not only a good place for children but was a gathering place for parents and a strong source of community cohesion. When that was removed a much smaller one was built which the community feel is on the wrong site and was poorly designed. There is therefore a demand for building on this and creating a better play area for young children. Young people have also demanded the chance to design and build their own space for more adventurous play combining more challenging structures with shelters for “hanging out”.
Space to grow : Community growing is beginning to be developed but this has not progressed. There is an opportunity for high quality growing in raised beds and poly-tunnels that will be a route to learning and therapy but also to enterprise. Produced grown on the open space site behind the community centre can be used to supply the café in the centre and then other food outlets in the community and potentially beyond.
Space to learn. Learning is a key issue in the area and there is an opportunity to use open space as a route to learning. Linking training and learning providers can develop skills in landscaping, growing, local food production and small scale construction.

Hard landscaping skills, particularly passing on learning to unemployed young people, could potentially develop into a small locally based social enterprise.

Links to the Dicthy burn can be rooted in learning about the natural environment. There are ideas emerging about outdoor nursery and forest schools.

There are early thoughts of community energy, potentially linked to a mini-hydro scheme on the Dighty Burn.

Space to be together. An awards for all bid has been submitted to create a small BBQ space for open informal community use, stimulating families and friends getting together in the open space. This can be built on to create a community events space with facilities including seating, eating, green gym and other play and exercise activities.
Space to rest : Amongst the above, the community was clear that there needed to be attractive quiet space, (possibly a community or sensory garden) for people to enjoy. There is an idea of working with a local artist to create a sculpture park, building on creativity of local people. This too would be linked to learning.

Young People and Families

Issues with young people have emerged throughout the research and conversation phase, both challenges, perceptions and in terms of un-tapped assets. Rock Solid is the strongest local organisation that is youth led and delivers services to young people. They will be the hub around which a youth thematic group will be built. They have started to develop innovative services and are planning social enterprise development linked to youth employability and social innovation. They are also hoping to secure shop front premises to create a small hub where young people can be safe and can present a positive face to the community.

Local people were not only noting a need for youth services and facilities, but were keen to ensure that better provision for young people, in turn strengthened their families.

This will give context for the following project areas;

Better youth services especially at weekends : There is better local authority and third sector youth provision than in many areas, but there is a worry that this targets only a small number and kind of young person. New activities need to be planned, piloted and developed that will engage a broader range of young person. Young people themselves were concerned about those with hidden mental health problems and addiction issues and a better model was needed to engage with these people. One fundamental issue was extending a youth led weekend intervention, though this needs to be further researched and thought through.
Help through transitions : There was some concern that young people often get stuck as the grow through difficult areas of live, from primary to secondary, through puberty, from school to the work, and into adult-hood. Peer and other support networks need to be built to support people appropriately through these stages.
Opportunities to use music and culture : Music and art, and creativity generally is seen as a good engagement tool with young people. Many young people performed or enjoyed music on the small stage a the Douglas Festival and this can be built on. Young people can also be involved more overtly in the design and planning of a potential sculpture park in the area in partnership with the local artist.
Places to be a family : this is rooted in the open space project, where areas for young people and families need to be developed and that those young people need to be involved in the design, and potentially the physical build of these spaces. If a small hub is developed in a shop-front this can also be a crucial local project to support.
Better understanding between age groups : Inter-generational work will be considered. During the asset mapping it was clear that everyone had skills and assets. One example might be where older people with horticultural knowledge can buddy and support young people to learn about growing. Young people in turn may support older people about enterprise development, social media and digital marketing.

Cross-cutting outcomes

Learning, jobs and local wealth creation emerged strongly through the research and local conversations. As youth projects are open space are being developed, each project will have a learning, enterprise and employability outcome where possible.