In the summer of 2024, we were appointed by North Lanarkshire Council and Coatbridge Neighbourhood Board to support them in developing the long-term Regeneration Plan for the town, following the award of £19.5m in funding from the UK Government as part of the ‘Plan for Neighbourhoods’ programme.

The Regeneration Plan, developed through extensive community engagement sets out a vision for the future of Coatbridge and presents a clear plan for how this vision can be delivered, with a programme of investment and local capacity building.

After building our deep understanding of the place and speaking to local people through a series of engagement sessions, creative workshops, family fun days, and pop-up events, we built a set of local priorities that were translated into deliverable interventions across different timescales.

All proposed interventions align with local themes that were identified by the local community and try to address gaps, building resilience for the future of the Town.

Local Priorities:

1. More opportunities for young people – to help improve health and wellbeing, develop skills and improve life chances.
2. Invest in what we have – to provide improved opportunities to address health inequalities and to access local culture and sport offerings.
3. A safe and friendly town centre – the heart of the community. A place where people can access key local services and socialise together. A place where local businesses can start-up and thrive.

Coatbridge Then and Now

Coatbridge is a town with deep industrial roots at the heart of North Lanarkshire. A town of more than 46,000 residents, historically known for its ironworks and coal mining industries within the industrial heartland of central Scotland.

A first step in developing this Regeneration Plan was to delve deeper into the history of Coatbridge and uncover the stories that have shaped the town over time. The town’s origins can be traced back to early settlement and monastic activity, where monks mined coal and transported it to Glasgow via the Monkland Canal. Coatbridge’s history further evolved in the 19th century with the discovery of rich iron deposits, leading to the rapid expansion of a thriving iron industry. The establishment of the Summerlee Iron Works in 1836 marked a pivotal moment in the town’s development, catalysing its emergence as a major industrial centre, with production of pig iron supporting wider industrial growth across the region.

Coatbridge today is a local town within North Lanarkshire with strong accessibility by both road and rail networks, but also areas of high deprivation and social disadvantage. It is a town characterised by numerous satellite neighbourhoods, each with well-defined boundaries, both in terms of established communities and geographical features.

Key challenges identified in Coatbridge town are primarily related to access to key sites and connections, safety and quality of green spaces, retail offer and deactivated Main Street, and generally pedestrian movement.

Community Engagement

A key component of the project was an inclusive engagement programme designed to ensure the Regeneration Plan was genuinely community-led. Working closely with North Lanarkshire Council and the Coatbridge Neighbourhood Board, we delivered an extensive programme of engagement with residents, businesses, community organisations, young people and local stakeholders.

The objective was not simply to consult on proposals, but to understand local priorities and establish a shared vision for the future of the town. This helped to build local ownership of the plan and ensured that future investment proposals were grounded in the lived experiences of the people who know Coatbridge the best. Extensive engagement with residents, businesses and community groups formed the foundation of the final Regeneration Plan and associated Investment Plan.

The Regeneration Plan

The Regeneration Plan is structured around three local priorities identified through extensive community engagement:

• creating more opportunities for young people,
• investing in existing local assets, and
• delivering a safer, more welcoming town centre.

To support these priorities, a series of emerging projects have been identified to guide both short and long-term delivery. In the short term, the focus is on quick-win interventions such as community grants for events and activities, supporting local businesses, exploring opportunities for new uses and activities, and delivering early improvements to Main Street and key connections.

In the medium term, the Plan focuses on strengthening key assets and public spaces, including the creation of green spaces for young people, the development of a Monklands Canal festival, and investment in community facilities, alongside improvements to Summerlee Museum, the Time Capsule, and the wider Monkland Canal corridor.

In the long term, the ambition is to deliver more transformational change, including a major reimagining of Main Street, enhanced strategic connectivity between key assets, continued enhancement of the canal corridor, and further investment to support town centre diversification, growth, and long-term resilience.