Push for site to remain a social care facility

South Lanarkshire councillors are pushing for the site of Mcwhirter House in Larkhall to remain a social care facility.

At the recent Executive Committee meeting, it was announced that the former Mcwhirter House, previously owned by social work services, will be transferred to the housing services.

Councillor Richard Nelson (Larkhall) asked for the premises to remain as a facility for social care in Larkhall.

He said:“i have some concerns that this appeared in the paper.

For a long time now at the executive meetings and social work meetings I’ve been asking for updates on Mcwhirter and received nothing until I saw this in the paper so

I’m a bit disappointed to be honest as an elected member I wasn’t involved.

“I’m seeking some assurance that this won’t be used for housing. We had a community engagement event in Larkhall and it was openly said there that this would remain under social work, so I would still like that earmarked for some form of social care in Larkhall.

“For too long now Larkhall has been used to build, we need to give something back to the community and to keep the elected members involved as we have to speak to the community to let them know what is happening.”

Councillor Peter Craig (Larkhall), agreed. He said:“it was an excellent consultation which took place, it included a lot of the Larkhall community. I was also quite surprised to see the Mcwhirter home on the agenda. I know the community expects something from social work and the NHS in the area. Whatever we build in Larkhall should be complementary to that.”

The intention for the site is to keep elected members informed as the project is developed and to maximise any opportunities to develop proposals on how to go forward with the site.

Social work and housing will be involved in the future development, although there are no proposals for the site at this point, planners will be open minded of what will be brought forward.

We previously reported that South Lanarkshire Council’s plans to develop the £16million Blantyre care hub have proved controversial.

While the new centre – on the site of the former St Joseph’s Primary – will serve the wider Hamilton area, it led to an outcry against planned closures to Mcwhirter House in Larkhall and Blantyre’s Kirkton House.

The council maintained that the older design at these care homes made them ill-suited to modern care and accessibility standards.