Alness was a small industrial town during the 1960-70s that suffered severely during the economic downturn of the 1980s. The town was affected both in terms of job losses but also in a physical sense due to the closure of heavy industry.

The project profile provides an overview of the activities of the Alness Environmental Group – who were established in response to difficulties faced by the local community due to the closure of key local industries.

Project activities are focused around improving the physical environment of Alness and creating a sense of wellbeing amongst the local community. Through the process Alness has also become a much visited tourist attraction.

To address the physical and environmental issues in Alness as well as the negative perception of the area - a co-ordinated response was required that required the local business community, the local authority and the voluntary and community sector to work together. Also key to activities was the engagement of the local community.

A number of initiatives were developed to improve the physical environment through street landscaping, parkland and construction projects. The profile contains learning points on the key aspects of successfully taking forward such an approach.

The case study provides evidence of the projects success – and includes evidence of how improvements have impacted positively on the image and reputation of the area. The project has included floral displays which have had a great deal of community involvement and had the impact of improving resident's perception of the area as well as the external image.

Local environmental groups have also been established out the activity including one focussed around biodiversity and another around recycling. One of the key outcomes of the project is that vandalism has been reduced significantly in the area; community 'buy in' is thought to be key to this.

The whole community in Alness has benefited and the local perception of the area has changed. The business community have also benefited from increased tourism due to the improved environment and better external image.

The Alness Environmental Group has its origins in “Alness in Bloom” – where a group of local business people and other volunteers got together to try to beautify the High Street in Alness.

The floral improvements have drawn heavily on community time and resources. While the flowers are paid for by public subscription with a considerable fund raising effort co-ordinated by the project team.

Scottish Centre for Regeneration
scr@communitiesscotland.gsi.gov.uk

//2005

case

Urban Policy > Urban environment

Environmental sustainability