Our Vision

Cumbernauld Living Landscape is a landscape scale conservation initiative with a vision to work with the community to achieve a greener Cumbernauld. It aims to enhance, restore and reconnect green areas of the town, helping everyone in the community to connect with the nature on their doorstep.

Cumbernauld is an incredibly green place and most people in the town live within ten minutes of a greenspace. We believe that everyone in Cumbernauld should benefit from this, now and in the future. However, these areas are often disconnected from one another and many are not as good for people – or wildlife – as they should be.

Without good quality, healthy places people and wildlife cannot flourish. Working closely with the local community, we need to ensure that healthy places are at the heart of the town’s future. The Cumbernauld Living Landscape’s long-term vision is for a green network in the town, providing clean air, water and retreats from the busyness of everyday life.

 

Delivering our vision

People and nature at the heart of Cumbernauld’s Future

 

By creating better greenspaces for people and wildlife and building a community network that connects people with nature, we want to see a Cumbernauld in which more people help nature, nature helps more people and more people help each other.

 

 

How we have achieved this to date

We have delivered a wide range of projects across the town that has improved habitats for wildlife, improved access to greenspaces, connected young people to nature, improved people’s health and wellbeing through nature and brought more people together to make a difference in their local community. Our most recent project, Creating Natural Connections, finished its delivery phase in June 2023 and we are currently composing a bid for future project funding.

We’re committed to improving habitats for wildlife in Cumbernauld’s greenspaces, and making it easier for people to enjoy these sites by improving the quality and accessibility of the paths in and around them. For example, we have been actively managing 230ha of urban woodlands, planting over 13,000 native trees, and restoring three urban peat bogs.

Together with our partners we’ve been improving access to nine natural heritage sites, owned and managed by North Lanarkshire Council and the Scottish Wildlife Trust, through the creation of new paths and upgrading of existing paths.

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Our schools programme provided opportunities for 3000 primary school children to get involved in practical environmental projects, such as the creation of rain gardens and areas of wildflower meadow and naturalised grassland. Young people at risk of not reaching their full potential took part in a 6-month Natural Connections programme, where they were supported to develop skills and build confidence – while improving their local greenspaces.

Teachers from schools across Cumbernauld and North Lanarkshire took part in workshops and training sessions to build knowledge and skills, which enabled them to deliver outdoor learning to their students utilising nearby greenspaces.

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We built on the ‘Wild Ways Well’ approach, successfully piloted by TCV and the Scottish Wildlife Trust. This takes a proven methodology – Five Ways to Wellbeing – and combines it with nature to bring added benefits. Through this programme, at least 200 people at risk of poor mental health, such as adults with additional support needs and people at risk of social isolation, were able to develop skills, enabling them to use nature to manage their mental health. We have also worked with social care practitioners to integrate Wild Ways Well into their own activities.

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We’ve brought people together through our innovative Asset-Based Community Development Approach. Developing skills and unlocking capacity has been integral to all activities, including volunteering, training and community engagement.

Across the 10 years of Cumbernauld Living Landscape, we’ve built relationships with groups and individuals, identifying and building upon their strengths and connecting people who want to take action for nature.

Championed by Sanctuary Scotland, this approach will ensure that Cumbernauld Living Landscape leaves a legacy of groups, organisations and initiatives that continue to work together to support environmental improvements and the local community.

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To date, over 30 individual projects have already been delivered, from pine marten dens in Palacerigg to peatland restoration at Fannyside Muir. To find out more about our current activities visit the projects page.

Current projects

 

Our team

Contacts

 

 

 

Case studies

A unique partnership between Scottish Water and the Scottish Wildlife Trust ensured that the maximum environmental benefit was delivered from a major project to improve water quality.

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The return of the elusive carnivore the pine marten (Martes martes) to the central belt of Scotland captured on camera.

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Cumbernauld’s Langriggs date back to medieval times, but action was needed to reclaim these historic sites for the community and secure their future.

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Through this work volunteers from Carillion construction company learned new skills, have a greater sense of pride in their environment which they will hopefully take into their every day jobs.

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The state of Cumbernauld

This report sets out the current state of the landscape in Cumbernauld. It brings together a range of data to present a baseline for future change. The Cumbernauld Living Landscape principles and objectives are set out and indicators to measure progress are proposed.

Read the indicators