Cuningar Loop

Cuningar Loop

Grantee: Clyde Gateway

What the project set out to achieve

The Cuningar Loop Phase 2 area was inaccessible and overgrown. Clyde Gateway aimed to provide access into the 7.67 hectare natural location, opening out views of the River Clyde and building upon the success of the existing urban woodland project delivered by Forest Enterprise Scotland at Cuningar Loop. The project was to build upon the success of this natural attraction and would provide further active and healthy recreational opportunities for all users and visitors.

The project was to provide additional woodland walkways including riverside boardwalks; further seating/picnic areas, interpretation points and river viewpoints; areas for wildflower planting and plants to encourage butterfly basking; an education zone; and a cycle storage area.

Where the project idea came from

Cuningar Loop over the years had been used as a site for landfill and its natural regeneration and poor condition made it completely inaccessible to the surrounding local communities. In a bid to enable access, the project was developed as a partnership involving Clyde Gateway, Forest and Land Scotland (FLS), South Lanarkshire Council, and the surrounding local communities, and ongoing interaction with these stakeholders developed the proposals and with a vision for legacy beyond the GISI investment period.

How the community helped develop the project

The community performed a fundamental role in the development of the ideas for the park and in the direction of Clyde Gateway’s investment and aspirations which continue to promote green infrastructure, and connections between communities and areas of work and recreation. Through consultation the local communities provided opinions and advice on what should be provided and what types of facilities would prove to be popular with users and visitors to the park.

How the project fits into the bigger picture

This project is located at the geographical centre of the Clyde Gateway area and provides an urban woodland attraction in the heart of an urban area on the boundary of the River Clyde between South Lanarkshire and Glasgow. This project extended the area covered and added further recreational opportunities to the existing woodland park. Cuningar Loop was on the Vacant and Derelict Land Register, so the delivery of this project removed the physical problem from the area whilst offering further opportunities for local communities and incoming visitors to improve their health and wellbeing. This will contribute to the long term and sustainable regeneration of the Clyde Gateway area of which the Farme Cross and Cuningar communities are an integral part.

How the project improved the local area

The Cuningar Loop extension added a further eight hectares to the existing 12 hectares and transformed an area of derelict and inaccessible former landfill into greenspace. It provided additional 1.7km of additional footpaths, and an extension to the riverside walkway, a teaching amphitheatre created with tree trunks, 167 specimen trees and 11,000m2 of wildflower meadows and grassland.

Visitors to the new extension can also enjoy other new facilities that were added concurrently, including The Bothy - a business and community hub with public toilets, treetop views across the park from the new accessible Tur, and Steuart Padwicks’ ‘Hope’, the COP26 Legacy Sculpture, providing a symbol of a greener and brighter future.

Please read our project blogs below to gain additional insight into the impacts of the project.