Commonwealth Games were ‘worth it’ say East End residents
Today, we published findings from our East End study, looking at the impact of the Commonwealth Games on the East End of Glasgow. Our findings show that the majority of people living near the Games venues in the East End continue to be supportive of the fact that Glasgow hosted the Games, and that most of those who experienced inconvenience at the time of the event thought it was worth it.
A large number of people in the study, seven out of ten respondents, were inconvenienced by the Games in one way or another, due to traffic and security arrangements and as a result of the large numbers of people in the area. Very few people, however, (7.5%) were inconvenienced by antisocial behaviour, suggesting that those attending the Games were for the most part well-behaved.
Given the pre-Games debates about the problems caused for local residents, it is interesting that afterwards, the vast majority of those affected thought that the inconveniences they experienced were worth it for the enjoyment or benefits brought by the Games.
Professor Ade Kearns said:
“In general, our findings indicate that the Commonwealth Games, were a positive experience for many of the people we interviewed in the East End of Glasgow. More importantly, however, the regeneration process is producing improvements, some faster and some slower than others, that offer the prospect of future gains to quality of life and health and wellbeing in the area.
“It is important that these regeneration efforts are continued, and supported by well-resourced management and maintenance efforts, as well as by social programmes that support people to become more physically active and to interact with others where social change is occurring in the communities.”