Bellsmyre is a large

housing estate A housing estate (or sometimes housing complex or housing development) is a group of homes and other buildings built together as a single development. The exact form may vary from country to country. Popular throughout the United States a ...

in the town of

Dumbarton Dumbarton (; also sco, Dumbairton; ) is a town in West Dunbartonshire, Scotland, on the north bank of the River Clyde where the River Leven flows into the Clyde estuary. In 2006, it had an estimated population of 19,990. Dumbarton was the ca ...

West Dunbartonshire West Dunbartonshire ( sco, Wast Dunbairtonshire; gd, Siorrachd Dhùn Breatann an Iar, ) is one of the 32 local government council areas of Scotland. The area lies to the west of the City of Glasgow and contains many of Glasgow's commuter town ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

. Located on the edge of the

Kilpatrick Hills The Kilpatrick Hills are a range of hills in central Scotland, stretching from Dumbarton in the west to Strathblane in the east. Strathblane divides the Kilpatricks from the Campsie Fells to the east, while to the north is part of the Loch Lom ...

in the northeast of Dumbarton, Bellsmyre is one of five predominantly council housing schemes in Dumbarton, the other four being

Westcliff Westcliff-on-Sea (often abbreviated to Westcliff) is an inner city area of the city of Southend-on-Sea, in the City of Southend-on-Sea, in the ceremonial county of Essex, England. It is on the north shore of the lower Thames Estuary, about 34 m ...

, Silverton, Brucehill and Castlehill. The estate was originally masterplanned by the architect Ninian Johnston of Boswell, Mitchell & Johnston. The first streets were built in the late 1940s, i.e. Aitkenbar Circle, Bellsmyre Avenue, Carman View and Lomond Drive. The original houses in Bellsmyre are recognisable as they are

British Iron and Steel Federation The British Iron and Steel Federation (BISF), formed in 1934, was an organisation of British iron and steel producers responsible for the national planning of steel production. Its creation was imposed on the industry by Ramsay MacDonald's Nation ...

houses The scheme was expanded by the Scottish Special Housing Association (SSHA) in the 1950s as a municipal housing estate, with many residents moving from the city of

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

as part of the "overspill" programme of moving people from inner city districts to

new towns A planned community, planned city, planned town, or planned settlement is any community that was carefully planned from its inception and is typically constructed on previously undeveloped land. This contrasts with settlements that evolve ...

and other areas outwith the city boundaries. Much of the remaining publicly owned housing under landlord

Scottish Homes Communities Scotland was an executive agency of the Scottish Government from 2001 to 2008. The Agency was responsible for housing, homelessness, communities and regeneration throughout Scotland. Communities Scotland was headquartered in Edinburg ...

was transferred to the Bellsmyre

Housing Association In Ireland and the United Kingdom, housing associations are private, Non-profit organization, non-profit making organisations that provide low-cost "Public housing in the United Kingdom, social housing" for people in need of a home. Any budge ...

in 1992. There are two later built areas adjacent to Bellsmyre; Stoneyflatt and Glenside, of which Stoneyflatt has been almost totally demolished to make way for new mixed tenure housing. There are also two primary schools in the area, namely Aitkenbar and St Peter's. St Peter's Roman Catholic Church in Bellsmyre was designed by Garner, Preston & Strebel and opened in 1971, winning a

RIBA The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) is a professional body for architects primarily in the United Kingdom, but also internationally, founded for the advancement of architecture under its royal charter granted in 1837, three suppl ...

award in 1973. In 2002, Bellsmyre was selected as the pilot area for a Scottish Executive digital inclusion project, which entailed the free provision of home computers with internet access to all households in the area. On 5 June 2007, an unexploded World War II bomb was found at a housing construction site, and some houses nearby and Aitkenbar Primary School were evacuated. The pupils were relocated to St Peters Primary School for that day. It was the childhood home of John McFall, a former MP for Dumbarton and the current the

Lord Speaker The Lord Speaker is the presiding officer, chairman and highest authority of the House of Lords in the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The office is analogous to the Speaker of the House of Commons: the Lord Speaker is elected by the member ...

. In a profile of him after his election, ''The Times'' noted, "the language which Lord McFall of Alcluith uses to describe the way peers scrutinise and amend bills passed to them from the House of Commons, is pure Bellsmyre."

References

External links

*
Bellsmyre Housing Association

Bellsmyre Housing Complaints

Bellsmyre Community Portal Website
Dumbarton Housing estates in Scotland {{WestDunbartonshire-geo-stub