The Scottish town that's become a crucible for our modern social ills

The study explores how the town changed over the past few decades and includes the experience and memories of local residents in their own words.

Study author Dr Lisa Garnham, public health research specialist at the Glasgow Centre for Population Health (GCPH), said a number of places could have been chosen as an example in west central Scotland, but Clydebank had a particular reputation for being a once prosperous area.

She said: “We were interested in exploring what had happened for people and their lives - the loss of industry created unemployment and poverty, so you can see as you look through the history that people who had once had really secure well-paid work and fantastic skills found themselves really struggling financially.

“Over the coming years lots of publicly funded services that could have protected them were withdrawn or removed or reduced. So the worst effects of poverty were pushed down on people who were living in that area. It is not just Clydebank, it is a similar story across other deindustrialised parts of west central Scotland.”

The research, which has been published in two studies in the Journal of Public Health and the journal Social Theory and Health, focuses on looking at the impact of ‘neoliberal’ policies by governments of all parties at the same time as post-war globalisation led to the decline of traditional industries in the UK, such as shipbuilding.

Garnham said the definition of ‘neoliberalism’ varied, but in this research it was being used as a shorthand for policies seeking to shrink the welfare state – including services such as benefits, social housing and the NHS.

“There is a reliance on the private market, which is expected to take over providing those services,” she said. “So those who can afford to pay for things like unemployment insurance or private housing or healthcare get better quality services.

“Those who are struggling financially end up not being able to afford the basics for a decent standard of living. It creates a cycle which perpetuates inequality.”

The study concludes: "This [Clydebank] case study suggests a turn away from neoliberal policy is required to improve quality of life and health."

Garnham pointed out changes in industry and economy were inevitable and said the focus should be on improving how poverty and inequality are tackled.

“We live in a really complex global economy which is changing all the time around us – how that will change in the future is really hard to predict,” she said.

“I think that is as true today as in the 1960s and 1970s when deindustrialisation started to take hold. What we do know is when people feel in control of the changes happening, they can cope better with that change, especially if there are going to be negative impacts.

“When there are public services in place that can protect people, protect their access to income, protect their access to housing and protect their access to healthcare, then they can cope better.”

The changing face of Clydebank

1960s/70s

In the late 1960s, a number of shipyards, including the iconic John Brown shipyard, joined to form the nationally owned Upper Clyde Shipbuilders (UCS) – resulting in a halving in the number of jobs. However by the start of the 1970s, the study notes, there was still a future for shipbuilding.

One study participant, Danny, described how Clydebank was viewed at the time as a vibrant place packed with skilled workers. He said: “There was always a guy making something, there was always a guy that could make you something, get you something, could turn out a work of art. I mean the joiners could make you fencing…the steel workers could make you lovely scroll work and when you think, the skills were fantastic.”

In the early 1970s, Edward Heath’s Conservative Government pursued policies to accelerate a transition away from an industrial base to a knowledge and service based economy – including the withdrawal of financial support from heavy industries such as UCS.

Between 1973 and 1978 alone the number of jobs in Clydebank dropped by 6000 to 23,000, with Clydebank’s other major employer the Singer sewing machine factory also shedding a significant number of jobs. Unemployment rose to more than 10 per cent among men during the 1970s in the town.

The decline of industry resulted in large swathes of derelict land, for which the answer was redevelopment in the form of construction of an open air shopping centre and demolition of buildings. But the research notes this resulted in the erasure of a significant part of the town’s former identity and the shopping centre “came to symbolise that loss for a number of the town’s inhabitants”.

In the study, one resident, Terry, recalled the “buzz” on a Friday as workers streamed into the Singer factory. “Where we lived there was a veranda looked right on to Drumry Road and literally hundreds if not thousands of people walked that road, from Drumchapel and all over,” he said.

“And the throng of the whole thing and the excitement...there would be guys with their bikes and their girlfriends walking beside them, it was just a tremendous atmosphere." He added: "Where Clydebank shopping centre is can be the most depressin’ place that god put on earth now.”

1980s

This decade brought the acceleration of deindustrialisation by policies pursued by Thatcher’s Conservative government, the study notes. The final closure of the Singer Sewing Machine factory in 1980 resulted in the loss of 2000 jobs. By 1981, unemployment had reached 17 per cent among men in Clydebank – and two-thirds of unemployed men and almost a third of unemployed women had formerly been employed in manufacturing.

Four-fifths of the town’s population lived in council housing at the start of the 1980s. But policies such as the ‘right-to buy’ legislation resulted in the best quality housing being sold off and a deterioration in public sector housing, which continued for decades.

Liz, who became a single parent after leaving an abusive relationship, described how she found herself in a damp house which left her baby son “covered” in eczema.

“I never got a penny from the social security to even buy a cot for my baby when he was born,” she said. “My first bed came out a skip. It actually came out a skip."

Residents who stayed in council housing also described the changing community. One local, Violet, said: “We knew everyone in this block. Now you hardly know any…they started putting alcoholics and drug addicts and all this sort of thing in. I mean, no harm to them but they should supervise them, but they don’t.”

Another study participant told how a friend did not want her children being brought up in Clydebank because of the poverty. “It was like pictures that you’d see in the illustrated news. I mean really sort of dirty, bedraggled looking children and she didn’t want her children mixing with them so they moved out because of that.”

1990s/2000s

The election of Tony Blair’s New Labour government in 1997 led to initiatives such as a drive to give responsibility to communities to deal with their own problems. But the study noted that many of the organisations which may have once been able to support this idea – such as trade unions and tenant’s organisations – had been undermined during the 1980s.

During the 2000s, only 60 per cent of working age men and around a third of working-age women were in full-time employment in Clydebank, which the study argues left residents particularly exposed to an increasingly punitive welfare state. New Labour’s ‘New Deal’ welfare reforms, placed conditions on claimants such as training courses and job placements, which the researchers argue caused additional stress on those already struggling with poverty and unemployment.

Owen, a participant in the study, said: “The Job Centre, that turns my stomach…it’s called the job centre but I don’t think it actually tries to really get you a job….I’ve got to apply to a job every week, but if I can’t find a job I’m told to send a CV to any company, which I do to keep them right. If I don’t do that then they get into trouble…So that just physically upsets me, and mentally.”

The research notes there was an attempted ‘economic’ regeneration of the town during the 2000s, with former industrial sites demolished and new commercial premises built to attract investment. But the study says: “This strategy resulted in significant demolition, was ultimately unsuccessful in generating significant employment opportunities and was eventually abandoned following the 2008 recession.”

One local said: “The whole redeveloping of Clydebank, its came to a bit of a standstill. Still pulling old buildings down but sort of came to a stop with putting new ones up. There’s nothing happening with it. When’s something going to happen?”

Reaction

West Dunbartonshire Council said it is committed to working with communities in Clydebank to reduce poverty and deprivation and tackle inequalities.

A spokeswoman said employment initiatives included an apprenticeship scheme and a service to help people get back to work through improving digital skills.

She said: “New social housing is currently under construction in West Dunbartonshire, with 40 homes being built at Singer Street/Second Avenue, 100 homes built on the site of the former St Andrew’s school and 35 homes on the site of the former La Scala bingo.

“The Council has opened a new, £23million state-of-the-art sports and leisure centre at Queens Quay in Clydebank and also plans to build a new care home and health centre on the site.

“The Queens Quay project will eventually see 200 homes for social rent built alongside around 1000 private houses in the shadow of the Titan Crane.”