Disused golf course could become park
Experts hand over report on Blairbeth future
The site of the former Blairbeth Golf Club could be returned to community use, the Reformer can reveal.
South Lanarkshire Council commissioned a report into potential uses for the land last year and that is now complete.
The firm behind the report was TGP Landscape Architects.
Their website states they “looked at feasible strategies to evolve the site to a more natural state returning to public use, improve public access to the area and encourage greater value as an informal recreation asset”.
Mark Elliot, a director of TGP, told the Reformer they “investigated a number of different options with regard to what the council were doing.”
He added: “That was a mixture of limited housing, some communal space, some open space parkland and an adjunct of the mountain bike facilities in Cathkin Braes.”
Mr Elliot confirmed a masterplan has been passed to the council and it was now up to them whether to continue with the plans. It is unlikely any plans for the land will be taken forward before the council elections in May.
Residents in nearby Fernhill have previously demanded the land is retained for recreation rather than sold for housing.
Davy O’Neil, who runs the local football school, gave the news a cautious welcome.
He said: “My personal opinion is there are already enough houses in this area and we’ve never got anything back. The community centre is there but you have other bits of empty ground that have lain for nine years.
“I hope the site is kept in public use but I think they will build private houses.”
Councillor Robert Brown said any project would take time. He added: “Local people have got a clear interest and most of them want it to remain all or mostly recreational ground. “Clearly there would be a big challenge to fund the whole thing.”
The land at Blairbeth has lain vacant since October 2015, when the club was forced to close under a mountain of debt and falling membership.
Since then residents have complained it has become a magnet for anti-social behaviour. The clubhouse was pulled down in October last year after asbestos was discovered.
South Lanarkshire Council’s executive director of community and enterprise resources Michael McGlynn said: “We are reviewing the options laid out in the report and investigating potential sources of funding for each one.”