Newbie - wondering about Motherwell/Cleland in Scotland?

[CalifornianScotland]

Has anyone heard of Motherwell/Cleland in North Lanarkshire? I posted in local, but the forum seems to be inactive. Anywho, if you've heard of it, would you say it's safe and a good place to raise kids?

Why have you chosen Scotland in particular?

It's a great part of the world - in the process of moving there myself to be closer to friends and DP's family and because we love it.

But I just wanted to check you know, It's VERY cold and wet compared to California.
You do know this, right?

The climate varies a fair bit throughout the UK.

The one thing we've struggled with in this is whether It's a good idea to leave the sun behind (currently in the SE).

It's me - who's only visited and never lived there - who's saying "it'll be fine". It's DP who's Scottish who's saying he doesn't want to leave the sun!

The winters are VERY cold in Scotland and the summers sometimes practically non-existent by Californian standards.

Not saying don't do it. Just checking you know this as it could be a bit of a shock!

I'm from that area.
I agree with others - there are some great parts and some awful parts. But that is the same in literally any town you will ever go to.
But yeah, not much for kids to do as they get older. As soon as they become independent they will have to get trains/busses into wishaw/Motherwell/Glasgow.

Motherwell is much better in terms of general resources around you on your doorstep.
It's not a bad town at all! Schools are generally very good in NLC - I work in education. Classrooms are diverse.

Yes, houses are cheaper here. But the brutal truth is that north lan has a high poverty rate - but that is mixed with highly affluent areas. Motherwell has been home to several Celtic football players that I know of, so if well paid footballers choose Motherwell to live in, it can't be that much of a slum!

Shop around on the housing sites. You will get a lot of house for your budget - and with that sort of money you will obviously be living in the very affluent areas of the town.

I keep asking that grand : OP is this genuinely just a city plucked out of the air because there are large , cheaper houses in some of the environs?

If you grow up in Scotland you are used to the relentless rain, too! It's what makes it so beautiful when the sun does shine.

But violent crime(outside of certain areas) is almost unknown, people are neighbourly and much more gregarious than even the English ( I get culture shock sometimes about how mistrustful the English can be about leaving a handbag on a table in a cafe : of all things to get worked up about this bothers me!) You will generally be as safe in Glasgow as an where else large and urban in the UK : which is very safe. There are areas of high burglary in Glasgow, though : but some of these areas are really nice ; they butt up against less privileged areas. It is most likely to affect you in terms of car insurance and home insurance costs rather than in actuality.

Compared to the two other places you mention (although you don't say where in the UK DH hails from) Scotland of course has way less violent crime than SA and obviously with Ca it would depend on the area.

Back in the day I useed to play with the children of a Celtic footballer. They lived in a bloody great castle in Wishaw! I think even the footballers have their Rangers and Celtic areas!

John Greig (Rangers) lived in Stepps or Shotts, not sure which.

And the really minted ones lived in Bearsden/Milngavie : but maybe even the footballers are priced out of the biggest houses there!

grandplans the reason we have chosen Scotland particularly is because I think it means a better future for my kids than England, the government seems to contribute more towards the public (i.e. free prescriptions, university tuition fees, etc) and I like the topography as I love seeing the hills, trees, overall nature that Scotland has. The area of England we are in is very flat, and imo not as pretty. I have been to Scotland twice now searching for houses

These are the houses we have seen in person:
www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-65553350.html

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-60995053.html?premiumA=true

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-65987453.html?premiumA=true

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-52440288.html

www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-66160190.html?premiumA=true

www.rightmove.co.uk/new-homes-for-sale/property-52073148.html

www.rightmove.co.uk/new-homes-for-sale/property-62145293.html

Another thing I should add that we want from this search is to live on a nice road, meaning not next to a crematorium or on a busy street.

Troll thanks for sending me those links, I've tried to get home reports on them and have made an appointment to see www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-70582457.html

If anyone has any info on the houses we've seen so far or recommendations for others to see (obviously our top contender and most discussion has been about Bellside so far, thanks Luna for all the extra background info on the estate ), it is certainly appreciated

I'm not particularly keen on Cumbernauld. It was built at the same time as East Kilbride but it's a bit bleak and has a lot of anti-social behaviour.

Armadale suffers from a lot of 'inbreeding' jokes. I'm sure there's lovely people there, but as much as the new estate is nice, it's surroundings are perhaps not the best.

You'll get a good house in Blantyre and the new estates are nice, again you have to be very careful with the schools as the population is very diverse and there's some issues with drugs/alcohol at a young age.

Falkirk could be a good in-betweeny area for Glasgow and Edinburgh, it's on the trainline for both. It's got good and bad parts obviously, but I think it's on the up in general. Falkirk is also handy for the Falkirk wheel park and Antonine wall trail which is great if you're historically minded. Callendar park is also lovely and somewhere I spent a lot of time when I was there. The main 'town' is very pretty although a bit run down- I think Falkirk suffered during the recession. Its pulling itself back up though.

Bishopton

Bishopton is an affluent area, nice schools, same mix of suburban/semi rural that you seem to be drawn towards.

Auldhouse
This fits your remit as well. Auldhouse was an old farming community but East Kilbride is now encroaching into it. There's a few different styles of homes listed but all seem to be under £280k.

Glasgow is a great place to live. Here are good areas surrounding the city. If you need south side look at East Kilbridr or Cathcart.
Motherwell centre is a bit run down but not dangerous, it also has fast trains into town. Hamilon is nicer, Bothwell nicer still.

Easy drive from that area to Glasgow or Edinburgh.

I second Helensburgh btw.

If I had to choose somewhere on your budget I'd move there.

I did in sheer jealousy look at Helensburgh. At the moment there is only one house of 4 beds in your price bracket OP.

How about Larkhall? www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-71686412.html

Anyone heard of this area?

Thanks troll for the links

I checked Helensburgh and it seems to be not much there for my budget as Piggy has said

Op I currently live in larkhall. We moved here when I was 10. (I'm everywhere) larkhall gets a horrible reputation for the whole protesant/Catholic rangers/Celtic thing but it's not a thing anymore. It unfortunately still carries the reputation but rest assured it's not anymore. Everyone knows everyone which you'd be quick to notice. Personally speaking If your looking for a decent school id avoid it. Speaking from the sense that the head teacher has recently been fired from his post due to slamming a child against a wall (high school) he was there for a year before I left high school and honestly he was a prick. The primary schools are great but there's only one high school and it's not great speaking from personal experience as it was my own high school.

Larkhall is such a train wreck of a place. It's actually really well situated, attractive and with decent amenities but its past just pulls it down constantly. As much as sectarian violence is not as big an issue as it was in the past, the fact that shops had to remove green signage due to it being smashed consistently shows that there's a group of people there who really spoil it for everyone.

The stuff with the head teacher being fired was absolutely shocking. As much as it's inexcusable, I can entirely imagine being pushed to the end of your tether by trying to 'teach' kids with generations of disdain for education behind them.

Cambuslang?? Lots of new builds there.

troll I think you'll find there is plenty of green signs now. It's just every so often it gets blasted in the media and old news reports get trawled up. It's not been bad for about 8-9 years. Granted in the summer the orange bands still march but they don't actually bring any trouble.

For schooling purposes id avoid it. As I've said primary schools are great. The high school is not. Not just for the fact about the head teacher. That school doesn't tend to have a high pass Mark on exams. Also the child wasn't actually of high school age she was a primary student which makes the whole thing a lot sadder. The fact he was actually allowed back in the school after that shocked me. But he's recently came under fire for more and is suspended again. So goodness knows what he's up to now.

Hamilton has gone downhill I'd say. Wishaw has some really rough parts. Biggar is nice.

If you are lookine at large new-build estates look VERY carefully at the school capacities, catchments, sizes, plans for new houses etc. I’m in the east of Scotland but there are several locations with large (multiple builders) new build estates where they have completely screwed up the school provision. In my case, this means people living a few streets away from their catchment primary schools are not getting in and almost an entire P7 year group from a feeder primary is not getting into their catchment high school. Three High schools in walking distance and they are now talking about bussing this group to another town. So look closely at actual school availability as well as performance and be prepared for it to be glossed over.

Whatever property you buy in the central belt of Scotland make sure you do your research. That area was coal mining country.

I'm sorry why do people keep mentioning that it was coal mining community's? That doesn't make it bad places? I'm confused... @mrsmoastytoasty

I think the implication is that there was industry there formerly and not much now - unemployment etc.

Also you don’t want there to be a disused mine shaft in your back garden. That’s what I read into that comment.

There may be mine workings beneath the house which could cause all sorts of structural issues, likewise spoil heaps.

OH is from that part of the world.

How about Airdrie? www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-71788673.html

CalifornianScotland many of the reasons we're moving there too! We've got similar budgets too.

We're looking in / near Edinburgh though so will be in a shoe box