Auchenback - Health and Open Space Study

Gardens: 73% of homes have a private garden. The highest density flats have communal gardens with clothes drying facilities.

Streets: Most homes face onto traditional vehicle access streets with footways on both sides. A limited number of houses are located off the main access roads around a green square.

Parks/ Green Spaces: There is one small park within the study area; Aurs Drive Community Park, a 1.9ha unfenced area of sloping grass along both banks of the Aurs Burn. It includes a play area and a small asphalt surfaced area. There are no surfaced paths and no bridge across the burn within the park at present.

School Grounds: There are four schools within the area each with play areas and sports fields making a total area of 19ha. The school grounds are accessible to the community outside school hours.

Adjacent to the study area are: Aurs Glen Park Aurs Glen lies to the south west of Auchenback. It is an area of mature landscape with a formal avenue, naturalised woodland and a play area. The area has links to the Dams to Darnley Country Park but is currently degraded and underused suffering from fly tipping, anti-social behaviour and poor access.

Dams to Darnley Country Park The new Dams to Darnley Country Park is a joint East Renfrewshire and Glasgow City Council initiative and lies to the south and east of Auchenback in the Green Belt. The 550ha area of countryside includes a series of interconnected reservoirs covering 90 hectares. Much of the Country Park is working farmland. The Country Park includes a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), areas of semi-natural, plantation and shelter belt woodlands. The council are currently improving access and creating new multi user path routes into and throughout the park. The reservoirs are informally used by fishermen and occasionally for watersports such as canoeing. The reservoirs are Sites of Importance for Nature Conservation (SINCs), important for resident and overwintering birds, and are visited by ornithologists.

Local Resources and Facilities.

Shopping facilities within Auchenback itself are fairly limited, comprising: a small supermarket Take-away a Post office Hairdresser on Aurs Drive ATM 2 convenience stores There are a wider range of shops on Barrhead High Street approx 800m away.

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