Blantyre are divided over new school plans

Jul 2 2009 by Chris Clements, Hamilton Advertiser

THE four councillors for Blantyre snubbed a recent public meeting – attended by about 200 residents at the TACT Hall – as a planning dispute over St Joseph’s Primary School rumbles on.

Councillor Jim Handibode said this week neither he, nor the other councillors, would listen to the “concerns of a breakaway group with their own agenda.”

The Friends of St Joseph’s Primary group are campaigning against the proposed relocation of the school from its current position at Glasgow Road to a site in Park Lane.

However, Councillor Handibode believes the group do not have a legitimate voice in the dispute. He said: “The settled will of the school’s council, which represents the parents, is that they are satisfied with the new school on Park Lane.

“I do not attend public meetings for a breakaway group with their own agenda, simple as that. What they are doing is condemning the children of St Joseph’s to stay in a school that is not fit for purpose. All they are doing is delaying the inevitable. This is a view held by all the councillors.”

The spokesman for the Friends of St Joseph’s Primary group, John McQuade, hit back: “We are the people who vote them in and the fact that they did not appear caused a lot of anger. That’s the general feeling in Blantyre. A lot of people were calling for the councillors’ resignation. They are supposed to be representing the people. Councillors Bert Thomson and John McNamee sent messages apologising for their absence, but Hugh Dunsmuir and Jim Handibode didn’t have the courtesy to reply.”

The planning committee are due to discuss the proposals at the council HQ on Thursday, July 9. The group hope to put the case to the council against moving the school to Park Lane.

And Mr McQuade hit back at claims that he is “scaremongering” and “mischief-making” campaigning against the relocation of the school.

Responding to a letter sent to the Advertiser by Blantyre resident Craig Russell, Mr McQuade said: “Myself and the majority of the people in Blantyre are of the opinion the relocation would increase traffic, which is a hazard to the children.

“With a supermarket also planned for the site, there will be more pollution and more traffic congestion, which at present is bad enough.”

Mr Russell had questioned claims made by the group last month that South Lanarkshire Council had deliberately misled the Scottish Government and Blantyre people over the local plan project and a proposed supermarket on the current St Joseph’s site. He said: “His complaints could jeopardise a school being built. Local plans mean nothing, but new schools mean everything to a community.”