Tag: Uncategorized

Direct Study Task: The Urban Environment

My Local Urban Environment:  Beith, North Ayrshire The name ‘Beith’ is Gaelic for Birch, it is believed that at one time the town was colonised with birch trees and the whole district itself was mainly forrest before it became a town.   Physical Characteristics: Beith is a very small town situated in the top of … Continue reading Direct Study Task: The Urban Environment →

My Local Urban Environment:  Beith, North Ayrshire

The name ‘Beith’ is Gaelic for Birch, it is believed that at one time the town was colonised with birch trees and the whole district itself was mainly forrest before it became a town.

beith-birch-tree

 

Physical Characteristics:

Beith is a very small town situated in the top of North Ayrshire, in the Garnock Valley. As it is in the Valley it is surrounded by hills, fields and trees. It also has great views of the local lochs in the neighbouring towns of Kilbirnie and Lochwinnoch. It has little traffic and noise pollution as there are no busy main roads which go through the town. Before the A737 was built in the 1930s which now bypasses Beith itself, Beith used to serve as the main traffic route going from Ayrshire to Glasgow.

screen-shot-2016-09-28-at-20-18-54 (View of Beith from Kilbirnie)

 

It is an old town with lots of new buildings, however we do still have some of our original buildings that we would consider our landmarks, such as the town house (1800s), the Auld Kirk (1500s) and the high church.

beithparishchurch       beithtownhousevert

 

The buildings are all mainly houses rather than flats. This is because the majority of Beith’s population are families, rather than a big city which would have much more variety in the population, such as students, business men etc, who would be more likely to live in a flat.

Our town is full of small shops and businesses run by locals, such as a florist, bakers, butchers etc. Many of these shops have been very old family businesses that have been there for years and been handed down the generations. A lot of the buildings in our main street have date back to the 1800s.

eglintonstreet-450

Transport:

screen-shot-2016-09-28-at-20-47-45

Beith is only 20 miles south west from Glasgow however we do not have a great selection when it comes to transport. We no longer have our own train station. The town used to have 2 railway stations however they closed in the 1950/60s. Now the nearest train station I just over 2 miles away in the town of Glengarnock, which requires a bus or a car journey to get there. This results in longer journeys to uni & work etc for many people who live in Beith.

We do have bus services, but they are not always the most frequent. Due to the lack of good public transport, most people in Beith drive.

However within the town itself it is easy to walk to wherever you need to get to, as it is such a small town and is also very pedestrianised.

Community Spaces:

Beith has one primary school, but no secondary school. Once children leave primary school they go to high school in kilbrinie called Garnock Academy, which serves as the local high school for all of the towns in the Garnock Valley. Children from Beith have to be bussed to secondary school, as there is no safe walking route to Kilbirnie.

008beithprimary

Industry and work:

Beith used to be well known for producing furniture from 1845 until the 1980s, there were many carpenters from Beith. Unfortunately furniture is no longer being produces in Beith due to the closure of many manufacturing firms and due being unable to compete with the rise in popularity of self-assemble furniture companys.

Beith has a whiskey distillery which distils a lot of Chivas Regal products. This employs lots of locals which helps boost our economy.

There is also a local  large Defence Munitions centre is located just outside of Beith which employs a lot of locals. The site was originally developed in 1943 as an Armaments Depot munitions store, for the Royal Navy.

We also have many shops and small local businesses in the town, such as our bakers, butchers, pubs etc. We just recently opened our first restaurant this summer which is doing very well so far and has been well used by the community.

 

Recreation Spaces:

Beith itself has a community centre which holds a lot of sports and fitness clubs, we also have an astroturf which is used by our local football team the Beith Juniors. We also have a local swimming pool in Kilbirnie and sports centres such as the Magnum in Irvine. Beith also has a local library which often hosts events for young children.

beithlibrary

beith-community-centre

 

Peri-Urban Space: 

As Beith is a rural town we are not periurban.

Population Density:

Beith has a small population of 6,300 approx.

North Ayrshire population density- 155 people per square kilometre  according to http://www.neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk/HTMLDocs/dvc134_c/index.html

Air Quality:

North Ayrshire has a low air pollution- Index 1, according to www.scottishairquality.co.uk

 

The Urban Environment

My urban environment is Prestwick, a small town on the west coast of Scotland in South Ayrshire. This is the town which I grew up in and still live in to this day. Prestwick has a population of roughly 14,900 … Continue reading →

My urban environment is Prestwick, a small town on the west coast of Scotland in South Ayrshire. This is the town which I grew up in and still live in to this day. Prestwick has a population of roughly 14,900 people.

Physical Characteristics
Prestwick is made up of all different types and styles of buildings. Sandstone buildings are very common, as are small brick bungalows. There are many different housing estates which are often made up of semi-detached houses. Prestwick has many different churches which are some of the oldest buildings in the town. There are now modern blocks of flats scattered throughout the town. Prestwick Academy was knocked down back in 2009 and a brand new modern school was build in its place. There are some historical buildings and features throughout Prestwick such as the Mercat Cross, which is now used as a war memorial, the Salt Pan Houses and Bruce’s Well.
The dual carriage way brings you in past Prestwick Airport and into Prestwick’s Main Street. The Main Street runs all the way along until it eventually leads you to Ayr. The Main Street breaks off into many other roads which then break off again. As there are lots of housing estates there are many roads, streets, avenues, crescents and cul-de-sacs.
There are many green spaces within walking distance. There is “the oval” which is a group of fields with a running track, play park and football fields. There are two different golf courses in Prestwick which provide a huge amount of green space. My favourite place is the beach which is within five minutes walking distance. It is used by many dog walkers, children playing at the two play parks, joggers and children playing on the fields in front of the promenade.

Transport
Luckily, everything in Prestwick is within walking distance from my house. However, if I was needing transport else where there are many ways of doing so. There are multiple bus stops throughout Prestwick, with many different routes and a regular timetable. The train station is also nearby and the easiest way to avoid rush hour traffic. Many people, like myself, drive to work and university and although traffic can become congested at rush hour this is nowhere near as bad as cities like Glasgow. Prestwick also has an airport. Prestwick also has a cycle path/route which runs all the way through and takes you to Troon.
Although planes, cars, buses and trains can make a lot of noise, as we are so used to hearing this all the time it just becomes a part of our daily lives and we see it as normal so don’t really notice it as much.

Community Spaces
Prestwick Main Street is full of many different businesses and places for the community to gather. It consists of food shops, restaurants, bars, cafes, clothes boutiques, hairdressers, beauticians, doctors surgeries, pharmacies, dentists, opticians, library, pet shops, veterinary practice, banks, post office, travel agents, art galleries, churches, estate agents and the police station. Further out there is the swimming pool, tennis centre, gym, community centre sailing club and golf clubs. There are three different primary schools in Prestwick and one secondary school. There are many activities and sports held in different locations, Scouts and Brownies, sailing club, soft play area are just a few of many.

Industry and Work
As mentioned previously, there are many different businesses in Prestwick town which gives opportunities for work. As well as that there is plenty of work available in retail, construction, mechanics and salesmen.

Air Quality
According to the Scottish Air Quality Website, http://www.scottishairquality.co.uk/latest/site-info?site_id=HARB, Prestwick has a score of 1. This is the lowest band, showing that Prestwick has very little air pollution. This is most likely because Prestwick is just a small town, it’s right next to the beach and surrounded by a lot of fields and farms. If you compare the air quality to a built up city such as Glasgow, it has a score of 2 showing that the air quality is not as pure and unpolluted as Prestwick.

Urban Environment

My local urban environment is situated in the South of Glasgow with an average population density of 7,800. The town is a thriving industrial estate transformed from the latter part of the 20th century when it was predominantly a peri-urban community. The conservation of the country park and public park keep this environment a peri-urban […]

My local urban environment is situated in the South of Glasgow with an average population density of 7,800. The town is a thriving industrial estate transformed from the latter part of the 20th century when it was predominantly a peri-urban community. The conservation of the country park and public park keep this environment a peri-urban community. Regarding physical characteristics, types of building include several new housing estate projects that have been implemented, unfortunately this reduces green spaces in the area. There are also lots of residential buildings in my urban environment.  Many green spaces are available to the public such as a country park (see 1 for management plan)  and a public park which provide widely used recreation spaces. These have been maintained by the  local authority and promote sustainable development as many activities and events occur throughout the year to maintain the pond and park. An example is park rangers offering group walks educating the public about conservation and holding eco events (see 2 for management plan).  Installation of cross trainers and other fitness  equipment throughout the park promote healthy lifestyles. Similarly,  community spaces have recently increased due to a new gym facility in connection with the public park. Furthermore, the town’s community centre has long been established and can be hired for commercial, social or community uses. There is also a nearby library and theatre.

The organisation of roads allows easy links to the major M77 motorway as well as nearby towns through wide, long, straight multi-lane roads. This creates good communication links as there are  frequent bus and train services, as well as an abundance of motor vehicles. Issues I have observed regarding transport is the build-up of traffic due to buses intertwining through narrow streets, busier buses on Sundays due to a lack of a Sunday train service and a build-up of motor vehicles and buses throughout streets due to traffic from the primary school having collided as no car parks are offered.

In regards to industry, my local urban environment there are a variety of retail, service, healthcare and business stores with the most significant being the extension of the town’s supermarket allowing more consumers to access it. A second storey car park was also built to accommodate more consumers which demonstrates how successful the extension was in attracting more customers.

In regards to air quality, my local urban environment ranked a low 2 in regards to the level of pollution in the area. This could be as a result of an abundance of trees and green spaces and a lack of factories and nearby plants.

air-quality

  1. http://www.eastrenfrewshire.gov.uk/CHttpHandler.ashx?id=3225&p=0
  2. http://www.roukenglenpark.co.uk/CHttpHandler.ashx?id=5491&p=0

Urban Environment

Within my local Urban area which is within the large town of Ayr there are a variety of physical characteristics blending both natural and man made features. Ayr is a […]

Within my local Urban area which is within the large town of Ayr there are a variety of physical characteristics blending both natural and man made features. Ayr is a coastal town which has shaped the types of development that
have taken place in the area. Such as larger numbers of homes being used as holiday lets or bed and breakfasts so that people can capitalise off the seaside location. There is also a larger number of fish and chip shops, ice cream venders and leisure facilities such as laser quest, bowling and arcades to encourage tourism to the area. The area also offers large areas of grassy land for outdoor activities. A good example of this is the well maintained wellington square which is an excellent place for tourists and locals alike to relax whilst still supporting nature by offering a greener area with more varieties of plant life.ayr-beach

Ayr is also showing signs of development through regeneration schemes. Major examples of this can be seen along the river Ayr. As part of the Ayr town centre strategy more unsightly buildings are being converted in to new flats and public buildings which brings new life in to the community and helps prevent the area from getting too run down whilst preserving the environment by regenerating existing buildings rather than taking over new land to build new buildings. Part of this is being done as part of the Ayr riverside framework project. This can be viewed in more detail via this pdf:  http://www.south-ayrshire.gov.uk/documents/ayr%20riverside%20framework.pdf . The areas of land by the river have also shown signs of development within recent times through the construction of the UWS campus and halls of residence. The main building itself cost 81 million pounds to construct and was opened in 2011. This development helped raising Ayr’s student population whilst expanding on the facilities within the area.

Ayr also has good public transport links through having a decent bus network and good access to other areas out with Ayr via its train station. This is also helped by Ayr having its own bus station which allows people the option to use public transport for their daily commute. There are also sections of one way streets in place to help with congestion and the road down Ayr high street is reserved with in specific times purely for public transport. However the area doesn’t offer any sort of tram system and lacks in a lot of places pedestrianised zones. However there is evidence of good use of land with the presence ayr-shopof a multi-storey carpark as a part of the kyle shopping centre near the high street reducing the need for on street parking within the area which in turn reduces congestion.

Ayr has multiple primary schools including Braehead primary school, Grammar primary school and Forehill primary school which means local children have a higher chance of living closer to their primary school minimising their commute. This also allows communities to have stronger bonds to their respective local school whilst have wider connections to the other schools within Ayr.

There are also contains a couple of options of community centres giving people somewhere to go to socialise and take part in activities to raise skills and create bonds within the community. These include Heathfield community centre and Lochside community centre. However as the John Pollock community centre is now closed it could be observed that more could be done to encourage people to become more involved with their community.

The area also includes a library, Carnegie Library, offering people an access to technology and information showing signs of good development within the area. The south Ayrshire council is also working to continue to expand the amount of allotments available in the area. This is a good benefit to urban environments as it helps create more green spaces and in many cases offers up activities for elderly members of the community. It also allows people to then give something back to the community once they have grown their produce on their allotment.

Ayr offers plenty of opportunity for work during the summer months being a seaside town it can attract plenty of tourism meaning there are plenty of opportunities within the area to capitalise on tourism such as plenty of fast food outlets and hotels such as The Mercure Ayr hotel which is just up the road from where I livedsc_0337. This encourages tourists to bring more money into the area meaning the area is given more of a chance to thrive. There is also a strong agricultural and farming presence in the area which is supported by having an SRUC campus in the area helping to inspire future works in agriculture. Ayrs high street is still suffering some regard like most high streets across Scotland however there is still a large variety of large retail industries within Ayr as well as large choice of super markets including Morrisons, Lidls, Tescos and Aldi. This means people can do their shopping within Ayr without feeling the need to commute to cities such as Glasgow or Edinburgh.

In terms of recreation Ayr notable has the Gaiety theatre which has just been renovated showing signs of development and improvement within the area. This is important as it is things like this that help create people image of Ayr and what helps them define what it means to be a part of Ayr’s culture and environment. The area also offers sporting opportunities through places like the Citadel Leisure centre. This helps people get involved in their local community and allows people to live a more active life style.

With in Ayr there are 92 people per square kilometre. This is far less than the major cities within Scotland such as Glasgow which is currently estimated at 3415 per square kilometre and even the other surrounding counties such as East Ayrshire which is currently sitting at 97 per square kilometre.  This suggests the area offers far more open spaces and that people in general have a lot more room. The air quality within my area considered low (2), shown 2016-09-20from the results taken from www.scottishairquality.co.uk which suggests that the area is far less industrial and is putting out far less pollutants that would affect the areas air quality. This is good as it means buildings like the UWS that are more environmentally friendly and the lack of certain industries within Ayr is helping to keep the air quality at a healthy level.

Report a Glow concern
Cookie policy  Privacy policy

Glow Blogs uses cookies to enhance your experience on our service. By using this service or closing this message you consent to our use of those cookies. Please read our Cookie Policy.

Close