Fri 27th February 2009

Community Consultation

Craft Town Scotland is a project of the West Kilbride Community Initiative Limited. Driven by local residents from the very beginning, the aim of the project was to revitalise and regenerate the main retail and community hub.

 Having achieved a great deal in the 10 years since WKCIL/Craft Town Scotland was formed, we thought it a good time to ask local people what facilities and services they felt were still needed in West Kilbride and to find out their views on WKCIL/ Craft Town Scotland. 

 

Working with Opp2mise (Opportunities to Move into Social Enterprise), WKCIL commissioned IBP Strategy and Research to undertake the community consultation. 

 

The survey was conducted in street using a quota representative of the West Kilbride population by gender and age. A total of 336 interviews were completed, which were then analysed using the SNAP data processing package. 336 interviews from an estimated population of 2,650 households in West Kilbride gives data accurate to +/-5%.

 

A summary of the findings is outlined in the full article.

 

 

Community Needs

 Youth Activities – 268 / 76 % of the community identified a need for more activities for young people.

• Volunteering Opportunities – 26 / 68% of existing volunteers identified a need for increasing volunteering opportunities and improving the volunteering experience;

• Community Café – 198 / 56% identified a need for a community café/ community meeting place enabling increased numbers of local people of all ages, abilities and backgrounds to interact;

• Venue Hire – 85 / 43% identified significant interest in venue hire for functions and meeting rooms for local groups.

• Arts and crafts classes – 74 / 21% identified significant interest in the provision of arts and crafts classes

• Parent/Carers and toddlers and older people - 117 / 33% identified a need for more activities for to increase local and regional access to cultural,recreational and vocational facilities across all generations;

• Community ownership of local facilities – 311 / 88% identified support for community ownership of local facilities.

• Increasing the townscape amenities – 272 / 77% fully supported the need to increase the townscape amenities via the preservation and improvement of a community owned historic building;

• Sustaining a community led initiative – 21 / 47% of local stakeholders identified a need to sustain a community led initiative via increased trading income, reducing levels of grant aid and creating surpluses to reinvest in the local community;

• Supporting local independent retailers - 9 / 25% of local businesses indicated a need to create a supportive environment for local independent retailers

 About West Kilbride

Respondents were  asked some final questions about West Kilbride overall.

 How has West Kilbride has changed over the last five years?

The main changes respondents have noticed in West Kilbride over the past five years has been an increase in retail outlets and the regeneration of the surrounding area; however, a significant number of people have also noted an increase in visitors to the area.

To what extent do you feel that the West Kilbride Community Initiative and the Craft Town has contributed to these changes?

Overall, the vast majority of respondents perceive that the West Kilbride Community Initiative and the Craft Town have contributed to the positive changes that have taken place in the local community over the past 5 years. It is also very encouraging that approximately three quarters of respondents answering this question see the contribution as a major one.

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