Flats plan for key development site

May 7 2008 By John Rowbotham

PLANS have been lodged for a key Hamilton development site.

McCarthy and Stone have applied for permission to build 63 homes on land between Staneacre Park and Blackswell Lane.

The retirement home builders want to demolish a house in Staneacre Park to ease the site’s access problems. South Lanarkshire Council currently own the land and expect a huge cash windfall when the land is finally sold for development.

The site of little more than one acre was largely acquired by the council during work to realign Blackswell Lane.

It includes the listed building at 5 Blackswell Lane and the sites of the former Smileys Garage and Classic Carpets.

McCarthy and Stone plan a 61-flat development plus the refurbishment and extension of the listed building to create two homes.

Council chiefs have confirmed that the scheme involves the demolition of 16 Staneacre Park to provide an access into the site.

Officers had been trying since 2000 to acquire 16 Staneacre Park with a view to ‘unlocking’ the development potential of the council-owned land.

In January last year, McCarthy and Stone announced that they had secured an option to buy land at 16 Staneacre Park.

At that time, the company said they planned a retirement complex of 33 one-bedroom homes, 18 two-bedroom flats and a manager’s apartment.

The council’s executive committee agreed in principle to sell the land to McCarthy and Stone.

Council enterprise director Iain Urquhart said the sale would add £1½m to council coffers but this week a spokesman for the authority said the sale had not yet been concluded.