Smarter Choices Smarter Places Funding!

Larkhall & District Volunteer Group are delighted to announce the Our Place Our Plan Strutherhill & Birkenshaw shopping bus project, has received funding from Smarter Choices Smarter Places, which is Paths for All’s programme to increase active and sustainable travel throughout Scotland. The programme is grant-funded by Transport Scotland. This new funding means that the shopping bus will now continue over the next year. During this time, LDVG and the OPOP community group will be looking to secure sustainable funding and sponsorship from local businesses to continuing this project into 2021.

The shopping bus was created in response to issues highlighted by the residents of Strutherhill and Birkenshaw who found it difficult to access the local ASDA. The aim of the bus is to reduce single-occupancy car journeys by encouraging people to travel together. The initial route has been expanded to include the adjacent retail park, with plans to include Lidl once it opens. During the last year, the members also enjoyed some shopping trips to places further afield, so the group will be looking at other venues and shopping parks they would like to visit during the year. The bus runs every Wednesday with residents collected from 10am and returned to their homes after their shopping. If you are interested in registering for this service, please call 01698 888893.

SPT Funding Success!

We are delighted to share that our community transport project, which provides transport services for various community groups in the area, has been awarded more than £46,400 SPT grant funding.  Our service provides affordable community transport across the community so users can access various services and activities such as transporting older people to their lunch clubs and providing access to education services for children in the travelling community.  This year we will launch a volunteer car scheme to access medical appointments, and we are seeking to continue a pilot scheme to operate a shopping bus service for those living in an area of Larkhall.

The £46,456 funding from SPT will be used to cover the running costs of the transport service during 2019/20.

SPT Chair Councillor Dr Martin Bartos said:

“Community transport plays an essential role for many living in some of our most deprived and disadvantaged areas.  By meeting the needs of users so they can get out and about to their clubs and societies, community transport ensures people stay connected to their communities reducing feelings of loneliness and social isolation.

“LDVG carries out vital work in the community and SPT is very proud to support its efforts through this grant funding.  The wealth of groups and people LDVG helps is wide and varied whether it be ensuring older members get to their lunch club and home again, to ensuring access to NHS appointments or helping children in the travelling community access educational services, they do tremendous work.”

LDVG charity manager Sandra McCrory said:

“This funding from SPT will be used to support the running costs of LDVG over the next year. We hope to be able to continue some of our pilot projects such as the shopping bus for older residents which was highlighted as a priority for the Strutherhill & Birkenshaw area.  We will be considering ways to continue this shopping service to meet the needs of the wider community.

“Services such as these are key to achieving our group’s overall strategic aims, which are, to improve the health and wellbeing of the community by reducing physical and social isolation through use of our community transport fleet.  We do this by ensuring those in our community can access hard to reach venues and offer variety to their week which increases their sense of community and connection to those around them.”