Public Interest
ALL’s development of Agnew Lane will be of benefit to the community environmentally, socially, and economically.
Environmentally Sustainable Development:
-Beginning with our intended remediation and detoxification of Agnew Lane, ALL’s development will transform derelict and neglected land into a place for wildlife to thrive and a place where people can congregate and grow food safely.
-Agnew Lane will provide what is increasingly lacking within Glasgow’s urban neighbourhoods; a place where native plants persist and communities can gather to learn how to care for and maintain them.
-The introduction of trees, shrubs, native flowers and plants, bug habitats and standing water will further encourage animals, birds, insects, pollinators and amphibians to occupy, persist and flourish at Agnew Lane.
-The garden at Agnew Lane will be designed for education and inspiration with an emphasis on sustainability, looking after the natural environment, and understanding where our food comes from. A fully equipped community kitchen will allow groups to cook delicious meals with ingredients sourced straight from the garden.
-The educational opportunities at Agnew Lane will create further conditions for people to come together with a fuller and more connected sense of who they are and what they are a part of, to support them to practically contribute to ecological change.
-The intention is that this will then catalyse more planting and gardening in the wider community.
Socially Sustainable Development:
-The need for urban outdoor space in which to sit, work, talk, and meet people is undeniably beneficial for individuals and communities
-Agnew Lane is situated within the diverse community of Govanhill, a neighbourhood that is high on the Index of Multiple Deprivations, with a large proportion of overcrowded households, unemployment, and in-work poverty.
-Since Agnew Lane was established in 2020, it has been a place of collaboration, making new friends, social integration, and learning. It offers respite to people who have felt excluded from social and economic participation in society.
-If developed by the community, Agnew Lane will continue to offer these social benefits, with an additional sense of community ownership, decision making and responsibility.
Economically Sustainable Development:
-Upskilling opportunities will be provided throughout all phases of the proposed development.
-ALL will continue to work in partnership with local community organisations whose purpose is to provide free educational opportunities. Milk Cafe on Victoria Road offers services and activities for women asylum seekers. Rumpus Room is a youth lead arts organisation that provides skills based workshops to children and young people. These collaborations will ensure the inclusion of community members interested in learning new skills throughout the development of Agnew Lane. This upskilling will likely lead participants toward more formal education and work opportunities by providing them with experience and putting them in contact with local practitioners and contractors who could serve as conduits for professional pursuits outside Agnew Lane.