Balloch's name comes from a farm on the Cumbernauld Estate of the Fleming family. It is a derivative of
Scottish Gaelic bealach, meaning a
pass among hills or mountains. The area it now occupies used to be covered by Balloch Farm on the west side (located at the site of the Forge Community Centre at Ben Lawers Drive) and Eastfield Holdings on the east side (some of the buildings of which still exist). Balloch is a mainly residential area of privately owned homes, although a number of council-owned houses were built when the area was first established in the 1970s, which are also now largely privately owned – this neighbourhood is commonly referred to locally as Eastfield while the private housing, containing a large number of detached bungalows and villas, is known as Balloch, even though the former council estate is near the old farm and the private housing is closer to Eastfield Cemetery. Balloch was developed to accommodate growing numbers of people who wished to reside in a
commuter town such as Cumbernauld with easy access to
Glasgow – in addition to the motorway,
Croy railway station is around to the north. The
National Cycle Route 75, which runs between
Edinburgh and Glasgow, passes by Balloch. ==Sport==