Pitch battle begins

Nursery bid for ground

Bothwell residents have hit out at South Lanarkshire Council over plans to build a nursery on a popular football pitch.

Around 70 people attended a meeting with members of the planning department and councillors last week to discuss the proposal.

If given the go-ahead, the plan will see a nursery and car park built between Appledore Crescent and Knockburnie Road.

Concerns have been raised that it is a “priority greenspace” and should not be developed.

On the night Scotland came agonisingly close to reaching the last 16 of the Women’s World Cup, a six-yearold girl was left in tears at South Lanarkshire Council’s plans to take away her football pitch.

Hollie Cringles was one of several children at St Bride’s Primary in Bothwell on Wednesday, June 19, for a public meeting to discuss proposals for a new nursery to be built on the Appledore pitches.

She sat patiently with her hand in the air for over an hour, waiting to speak to council representatives – including Bothwell and Uddingston councillors Maureen Devlin, Kenny Mccreary and Jim Mcguigan – before she started to feel as if she was being ignored.

At this point, mum Adele stood up to fight her daughter’s corner. She said: “Hollie wanted to speak. She is six and she knows her own mind.

“She just felt that she wasn’t even getting listened to and I had to speak up for her.

“She knows how to speak and she can speak for herself.”

Like most of the residents who turned out on Wednesday, Hollie was determined to save the popular park. A number of children from the area went along on the night to hear about the plans.

Football fan Hollie told the Advertiser: “All the people in Scotland, all of the kids think it’s cool.

“All of the doggies like playing in it and I think it’s really good for people.

“Sometimes we play football, sometimes we go on my bike and I make new friends.”

Cllr Mcguigan – who chaired the meeting – suggested “the type of people” the council were trying to help by placing the nursery at Appledore included less well-off or single parents.

The new nursery plans follow a Scottish Government initiative to increase the amount of childcare that is available for three- and four-year-olds from August 2020.

South Lanarkshire Council’s head of education with responsibility for early years projects, Lynn Sherry, said: “We have a statutory responsibility to have plans for all three- or four-yearolds.

“In Bothwell and Uddingston, we are 190 places short. Provision would need to be built in this area.”

Cllr Mcguigan added: “We are here to listen to your opinions.

“It is a consultation for you to suggest other things. It may be that what you think is an ideal site has already been looked at and ruled out.”

However, estates manager for education Vance Sinclair told the meeting: “If there are other sites that we have looked at and may have overlooked, we will take another look.”

Residents at the meeting repeatedly raised the issue of traffic and road safety in Knockburnie Road and Appledore Crescent, among others.

One person argued: “It is not safe as it is, we know this area inside out. It is not suitable.”

Another added: “Kids are walking on the roads to get by cars.

“Appledore can’t take an increase in traffic.”

South Lanarkshire Council’s roads department hadn’t raised any objections to the initial plans but it emerged they hadn’t performed a road survey to measure the levels of traffic at present.

Residents also voiced concerns about the loss of greenspace and the fact that Appledore is “priority greenspace” which is not to be developed.

Ms Sherry said that the planning department had told them otherwise and that they would “need to double check that”.