Soil deal ends up with council out of pocket

A MOVE to save money on the Maidenhill Primary School build has ended up leaving the council out of pocket.

Local authority chiefs had made an agreement for Cala Homes and Taylor Wimpey to provide topsoil from the neighbouring housing development.

The idea was to save cash which would have been spent importing the material from other sites.

But East Renfrewshire Council will now have to stump up £67,000 to remove the topsoil after tests found it to be substandard.

Cala and Taylor Wimpey have agreed to take back some of the material, but council officers are now in the process of making a claim against the developers to recover the costs.

In a report, Andrew Cahill, the authority’s director of environment, said: “The council made an agreement with Cala and Taylor Wimpey for the development of the Maidenhill area for housing.

“The council will now need to import certified topsoil at an additional cost over and above the contracted sum.”

Mr Cahill revealed that council leader Tony Buchanan and deputy leader Paul O’Kane had to give urgent approval for the £67,000 to be spent removing and replacing the topsoil.

And he claimed that building work could have been suspended while a claim against Cala and Taylor Wimpey is ongoing. HILTON Park Golf Club is at the fore of getting women into the sport – having embraced an award-winning social coaching programme.

Introducing the game within a relaxed, social environment, the award-winning love.golf programme enables women to learn how to play golf on the course with a group of other beginners, rather than taking a series of technical lessons.

Following an experience day last week, Stuart Smith, PGA Professional at Hilton Park, said: “The weather was great in the end, the course was excellent and the ladies had a blast. They learned a lot and are all keen to come back.”

After a pactice session and lunch in the clubhouse, the participants hit the golf course. Stuart said: “As a totally new concept for me, I was nervous about how the day would pan out but they all loved it. It was great to see how quickly they adapted to the golf course and the challenges they were faced with. They engaged brilliantly with each other and me, too.”

Love.golf was launched in 2015 following an academic study at the University of Birmingham looking what women want from their golf experience. To book a place, call 0141 956 5125.