Have your say on Local Plan
Dear Editor,
Well done to Councillor David Watson for calling on people to reignite East Kilbride’s community spirit.
An excellent way to achieve this is for people in the town to object to all the housing sites which have been submitted for South Lanarkshire Council’s latest Local Plan before East Kilbride joins up with Strathaven and becomes one big housing estate.
It is interesting to read in the latest part of the plan that the town with the largest numbers of housing projects is East Kilbride. Is it not time the council gave us all a break from this?
One of the biggest is planned at Midcrosshill Farm in Auldhouse where it is suggested the countryside should be ripped up to make way for up to 1750 homes. This site is bang next to Langlands Moss Nature Reserve and a village renowned and loved for the peace and quiet walkers, horse riders, cyclists and wildlife so crave.
Let’s hope our representatives on the council take the brave decision and protect our countryside for our children, rather than thinking about all the council tax and developers’ incentives they can potentially rake in.
The infrastructure in this area can’t cope with such a plan. Where are all the children going to go to school? Auldhouse Primary has a roll of just 50 and secondary schools in East Kilbride are bursting. Do we really want our teenage children going to schools with roll of 2000 plus?
Access will be via country roads and even the newly unwanted, but upgraded Auldhouse Road won’t be able to cope; after all, the council has already given permission in principle for a football stadium and a potential 4000 visitors every match, just a stone’s throw away at Hurlawcrook Road.
I’d urge people to log onto www. southlanarkshire.gov.uk and follow the links to the Local Development Plan 2. Comments need to be in by August 4 and emailed to localplan@ southlanarkshire.gov.uk or by post to: Gordon Cameron, Planning and Building Standards Headquarters Manager, Community and Enterprise Resources, Montrose House, 154 Montrose Crescent, Hamilton, ML3 6LB. Rebecca Hay, via email