Pollokshields community group to be awarded £4000 from Glasgow council

The Reclaim the Lane group, which was set up just before the outbreak of Covid 19, got together to ensure the lane between Shields Road, Leslie Street and Albert Drive was made more secure and maintained.

They have been working to address issues including fly-tipping, security with break-ins at nearby homes and addressing the overall sense of the area being unsafe.

In the last two years the group has managed to raise £4000 from the local community and £500 from the South Side housing association. They have now been granted a further £4130 from the Pollokshields Area Partnership.

Reclaim the Lane previously contacted residents asking them for support to tackle dumping in the area in order to resolve this issue by blocking the lane off at both ends to stop it being an attractive site for dumpers.

With wider community support, the Pollokshields Trust has allowed the Reclaim the Lane group to use its bank account to deposit the just giving donations from residents. The Southside Housing Association is also working in Partnership with the group.

‘Splendid initiative’

The application for funding was presented to the area partnership on Tuesday morning.

Chairman Baillie Norman McLeod said: “This is a splendid initiative if I may say so by residents on Shields Road and Leslie Street in relation to the lane at the rear of their houses.

“They have raised a substantial amount of money themselves. Because at the time of the application they didn’t have their own bank account, the local housing association has said it will do their banking for them.

“They have also contributed £500. We are actually being asked to contribute less than half of the total cost and I am keen to make this award.”