Commonwealth Games Legacy: Dalmarnock residents feel 'neglected'

Residents in Dalmarnock's Athletes' Village have told Clyde News how they feel 'neglected', three years since the end of the Commonwealth Games.

Local people moved in after thousands of sportsmen and women, competing at Glasgow 2014, stayed in the newly-built area.

But in the years since, some residents have expressed their disappointment at how the place has 'gone downhill'.

Clyde News visited some residents in the area to get their views - and see first-hand some of the ongoing problems.

"We've got a lovely wee lake here in the Village - but it's full of bikes, trampolines, balls, rubbish that people's just thrown in," said one woman.

"There's been break-ins around the Village. I've had stuff taken from the garden.

"There's nothing for the kids to do either. They're destroying the place."

Another resident expressed similar concerns: "There's no pavements so the kids are constantly on the roads, and cars will come zooming round the corners.

"Truthfully, it's gone downhill. It's not as nice. People don't care, they're not maintaining the place. They're not proud of what they've got.

"Considering what I came out of to what I came into - you'd think they'd take better care of it."

An elderly male resident in the Village says the housing associations and the city council need to address the problems.

"The place is a shambles. There's not enough going on, and it's not good enough.

"It was beautiful when we first moved in, everything was spot on. But as time's gone on, it's become a joke.

"It should be what it was two years ago."

Elizabeth, who lives on London Avenue, told Clyde News that the factors Your Place were to blame.

"We pay these huge fees and you're paying for vandalism around the place to be cleaned, maintenance of the shrubs - and the Your Place factors are sending these young people with no experience and we're left with very little green area.

"It's an absolute riot what we have been left with. They're not doing their part and we keep paying."

Local people who lived in the area prior to the Games bid were subsequently moved out to accommodate the construction work.

But as Neil Gray, Director of Operations at the Urban Studies Foundation, explains, not everyone was moved back.

He said: "I think if you were to look at the Games' Village now and you didn't know the area, you'd see some quite attractive buildings and a nice riverside setting, and it would be quite easy to be convinced that it was a success story.

"But there is a different narrative to that.

"A lot of people don't know the history of that area, which has suffered from very long-term disinvestment, at least since the 1970s. Even in 1999 there were over 1,500 homes in the area, and those were gradually run down - I would say deliberately disinvested in - and eventually demolished.

"So now, when the Games Village was proposed, the original argument was that there would be 1,500 homes. That got reduced to 700 homes. And out of those properties, 300 were for private sale and 400 were for social rent.

"That means from 1999 to the construction of the Games' Village, 1,100 social rented homes were lost.

"This is a part of the city of marginalisation and poverty. It's where most people live in social rented housing. So a question I'd like to ask is: what happened to those 1,500 people?

"What was their legacy? Where did they go?"

Glasgow City Council, assisted by various partners, played a crucial role in the regeneration of the east end.

A spokesman said: "The Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games was generally recognised as being the best Commonwealth Games ever.

"Its legacy was one of high-quality new homes, new and improved transport links and sports facilities in the East End and across the city, as well as the social and economic boost it brought to Glasgow.

"The city showed it could host - extremely successfully - one of the biggest sporting events in the world. Dalmarnock in particular was left with the direct legacy of 700 new homes - with more planned - a world-class sporting venue in the Emirates Arena - a new care home, a new train station, and a new nursery with a new primary school to be built in the near future.

"There has been significant environmental improvement made to the area, notably the Cuningar Loop Woodland Park.

"Anyone who visited Dalmarnock three years before the Games who visited it today could see the fantastic transformation that has taken place."