After taking on Tesco and winning, a community group plans to help others do the same
They admit to being reduced to tears after meetings with bureaucrats and council leaders left them feeling worthless.
But now a group of five determined women from Linwood are using their experiences to help others wanting to start up community groups across Scotland.
Jeanette Anderson, Sharon-Anne Ross, Jacqueline Donnelly, Celia Smith and Kirsty Flannigan were determined to turn over derelict Linwood town centre for the use of the community and created Linwood Community Development Trust (LCDT) to do so.
After wining a long battle with Renfrewshire Council and supermarket giant Tesco to redevelop the site, they have now created a new charity to encourage grass root community groups to do the same.
LCDT has announced it has joined forces with a similar group in Beith, Ayrshire, to form the Grow Trust to provide legal support, planning and architectural advice for organisations and community groups.
We want communities at the table with the information and the support they need, at a time when they need it - Jim Boyle
Oxfam initially funded the trust, seconding one of their experts, Jim Boyle, who now volunteers for the organisation full-time.
Boyle said: “We decided – no more waiting for policy changes, no more waiting for public bodies to agree with what our communities were wanting to change.
“We want communities at the table with the information and the support they need, at a time when they need it.
“It is about levelling the playing field.”
Tesco had been sitting on large swathes of land in the area for years and were unwilling to turn it over to the community.
After pressure from the trust, the supermarket giant eventually built a new supermarket and, as part of the deal, built a new comunity centre.
The trust is now set to develop more of the area and take a greater role in planning.
Kirsty Flannigan, one of the founders for LCDT said that dealing with professionals can be daunting – and good advice is lacking.
Flannigan said: “We’d urge communities facing the same hardships to never, ever give up if you believe something is worth fighting for.
“This is our future, and who knows better what the community needs than the community itself?”
