Larkhall in line for £50 million facelift

Council backs massive development project

Council depute leader Jackie Burns has welcomed an ambitious £50m boost for Larkhall.

As part of South Lanarkshire’s City Deal investment, the Larkhall community growth area (CGA) plans will see up to 1750 new homes built in the town, as well as improvements to local schools and roads.

Details were revealed when the council’s executive committee approved the CGA’S outline business case.

Local councillor Jackie Burns said:“this is a fantastic opportunity for Larkhall. I am delighted with these ambitious plans, which have enormous potential to really revitalise the town.

“Not only will we see a massive boost for local housing but there will be associated work to further enhance our schools and associated community assets and our local road network.

“There will be a significant impact on employment too, with more than 2500 jobs likely to be involved in building these new homes and making these additional improvements in our communities.”

The objective of the CGA is to improve the area by working with housing developers to build high-quality, affordable homes to meet the demand from a growing population.

As well as new homes and community benefits, the project will lead to investment in water, sewerage, telecoms, gas and power networks. Up to 2300 construction jobs are expected to be involved plus another 370 jobs will be supported directly or indirectly.

The outline business case which was approved by the executive committee has also been approved by the City Deal cabinet.

It includes £1,985,000 in initial funding to pay for design and planning work on local schools and roads plus specialist advice on environmental and other issues.

In total £50.5m is anticipated to be needed to fund all of the infrastructure works, with £20.1m coming from the Glasgow City Region City Deal and the balance being made up from developer contributions and South Lanarkshire Council.

The council already has an agreement in place with landowners and developers which includes contributions towards the road network, community and education infrastructure.

The Larkhall CGA is one of four, the others being in Hamilton, Newton and East Kilbride.

South Lanarkshire’s other City Deal projects are the Cathkin Relief Road and the dualling of Greenhills Road and Stewartfield Way in East Kilbride.

These ambitious plans have enormous potential to really revitalise the town