Macara Park Improvement Project

  

In 2014 Moniaive Initiative started working with the local community to implement improvements to Macara Park.  A newly-formed group, the Friends of Macara Park, held work-parties to clean the existing play equipment and pressure-hose the safety surfacing.  Following local consultation, we selected Playdale to install a dedicated Toddler Area and an Aerial Runway.  In September 2017 we finally reached our fundraising target, thanks to the following generous grants and donations:

£4,529 – Annandale & Nithsdale Community Benefit Company

£5,000 – Glencairn Community Council Windfarm Fund

£8,889 – The Holywood Trust

£10,000 – Awards For All

£2,750 – D&G Nithsdale Area Committee

£682.54 – Local fundraising & donations

£31,850.54 – TOTAL

Our local fundraising target was given a welcome boost by the staff of Watsons Groceries, who donated the proceeds from the sale of the “Big Graham” calendar to our project in February 2017.

 

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Installation commenced in November 2017, and the Aerial Runway was completed early in the New Year.  Unfortunately the weather was against us, and the safety surfacing for the Toddler Area could not be completed until early March 2018.  We held the Official Opening on 26 March 2018.  After a quick downpour, Elaine and Evie were able to cut the ribbon on the new Toddler Area,  whilst Carys and Kelvin (the Gala Queen and Gala King) cut the ribbon on the Aerial Runway.  We then had a sunny, Spring afternoon of Easter Egg Hunts, egg and spoon races, bike circuits, and good, old-fashioned play on the new equipment.

   

Thanks to everyone who donated time or money to this project!

   

Lower Speed Communities Project

During Summer 2016 we issued our Glencairn & Moniaive Action Plan, and one of our priorities outlined in that plan was the improvement of accessibility, as part of our wider aim to regenerate the High Street. So when Living Streets (Scotland) advertised their new project, Lower Speed Communities, it seemed like too good an opportunity to miss.  We applied to be considered for a place on the national pilot, which aimed to use funding from the Scottish Government’s Road Safety Framework to help 6 communities across Scotland to achieve a 20mph limit.  After a site visit by Barbara Allan from Living Streets (Scotland), we were offered a place on the project.

We held our first community meeting in May 2017.  Representatives of many of the local organisations of Glencairn came together with business owners and local residents to help us draw up a map of ‘problem areas’. 

We agreed to take these issues forward with the relevant authorities, and in June 2017 we held our first meeting with a representative of Dumfries & Galloway Council’s Infrastructure & Transportation Department.  He outlined all the work carried out to date regarding a revision of the speed limit in Moniaive, and kindly supplied us with some technical data to help us progress our ideas. 

Throughout 2017 we continued to gather evidence from local residents, both out and about in Moniaive and through comments generated on our Facebook page.  We were pleased to see that many local residents supported us by displaying our “20mph” posters in their windows.   Our ‘wee laddie’ (go-slow scarecrow) was been moved around the various entrances to the village, to remind drivers to slow down.

In early October 2017 we carried out two Community Street Audits, with the help of some local volunteers, including the Junior Road Safety Officers and P7 Class from Moniaive Primary.  Those Audits identified a small range of actions that we can take ourselves, both to raise awareness of and to alleviate some of the traffic  / pedestrian conflicts.  We issued a draft report on our findings in November 2017, which was then open for comment and feedback.

Our partnership work with Living Streets finished at the end of 2017. You can read their final report here:

  Living Streets Report — Moniaive_Mar18

In 2018 we were contacted by parents from Moniaive Primary School regarding the difficulties of the ‘school run’.  Both pedestrians and motorists find Chapel Street difficult to traverse during busy periods, with parked cars and lack of pavements leaving pedestrians (especially our smallest residents) feeling particularly vulnerable.  This was further exacerbated by the passage of heavy goods vehicles.  In the summer of 2018 we therefore launched our Timber Waggon Survey, asking for your views on the idea of our negotiating a TIME RESTRICTION on passage of timber waggons at school entrance and school exit times. 

The survey ran through June-July of 2018. We received 79 responses, with 70 votes in favour and 9 votes against us negotiating a time restriction. In March 2019 our proposal was accepted by the Transport Forum, who now includes the time restriction in new haulage contracts.   This is a voluntary agreement, and although we cannot legally enforce it, we can actively encourage it’s adoption.  If you notice timber waggons transiting the village during the restricted times (8.50am-9.20am and 3.00pm-3.30pm) please contact us with details (time, date, and registration or haulier name) and we will report it to the Transport Forum, with a reminder to the haulier of why the restriction is in place.   Our aim is to build on the success of the existing restriction in Dunreggan, without creating a disproportionate impact on this important local industry.

Meanwhile, discussions continued with Dumfries & Galloway Council, and during the summer of 2020 work was finally completed on our 20mph zone.  Although Moniaive Initiative are of course not responsible for enforcement of this new speed limit, we do aim to continue our campaign to educate drivers on the importance of sticking to the speed limit, to make Moniaive a safer and a more pleasant place live, work and visit.

Remember: PLEASE GO SLOW through Moniaive!