City deal cash to support Newton
South Lanarkshire Council has set out the business case for the 1500home Newton community growth area in order to gain City Deal funding.
The authority is in line for £10.2million from the deal to support the proposed road infrastructure and the creation of the new primary school set to be opened in 2017.
But the money will not go to the creation of a secondary school in the area.
The business plan, which will be handed to the City Deal cabinet on December 15, was put to councillors on an executive committee last week.
They were told in the plan that City Deal funding was required to “address the viability gap in terms of facilitating the delivery of the Newton CGA.”
It adds: “This funding would be directed towards improvements to social and physical infrastructure ( i. e. capacity in education, community facilities and roads) to accommodate the increase in the number of residents and in ‘opening up’/ preparing sites for development.
“The funding to delivery these social and physical infrastructure works at Newton CGA is estimated to cost up to £10.2 million. In the absence of City Deal funding there is a significant risk that the Newton CGA would not be developed or at best developed at much slower pace.”
According to the council, the entire project will create 124 housing construction jobs and 189 indirect jobs over the next 14 years.
A further 176 construction jobs associated with infrastructure works and 144 indirect and induced jobs would also be created. The project is expected to bring in £150m in private housing investment.
The Newton project has proved controversial, with some people living nearby saying the facilities are not there to support the increased population.
Central to their claims is the lack of a secondary school, with Halfway Community Council previously calling on a new school to be built alongside the primary.
But Michael McGlynn, head of community resources, told the Reformer the City Deal; money would support only the primary.
He said: “In order to cater for a growing population in the area, the associated needs of local residents and their children and to address ongoing improvements to the provision of childcare facilities the council identified the need for a new nondenominational primary school within the development site.
“The new school will incorporate 18 classrooms, a ‘community’ wing and 4G football pitch. To relieve the pressure on existing schools in the area the facility is scheduled to open in August 2017.
It was originally intended to build the school in two phases however economies of scale and avoiding future disruption caused by construction work during term time led to the decision to carry out the works in one main contract.
“The £13.3m cost of the school is being met through a combination of funding from the council, Taylor Wimpey developer contributions and City Deal.”
The deal will “address the viability gap” to delivering the Newton CGA