Villagers claim flats site was sold cheap

Jul 2 2009 by Alastair McNeill, Hamilton Advertiser

LAND in Uddingston earmarked for 40 flats was sold by South Lanarkshire Council for £90,000.

The council insist they parted with the site in Hornal Road for the ‘going rate.’

However, this week villagers claimed the land was worth more.

Lynnet Leisure and Clyde Valley Housing Association’s scheme was approved by councillors last week.

Officials had stressed there was an “acute need for social rented housing” in the Bothwell and Uddingston area and a departure from the Local Plan, rezoning the industrial site for housing, was acceptable.

One villager, however, pointed out that the land with planning permission for flats would now be worth a lot more than the £90,000 which Lynnet Leisure originally paid for it.

He said: “The price of land with planning permission in Bothwell is astronomical, so it’s a different ball game now that flats will be built on that land.

“The council should have protected their interest by inserting a clause in the deal to the effect that it would benefit if the land was used for housing.

“As a council taxpayer I feel we have been short changed. It looks to me that officials either haven’t been very thorough, or there have been other reasons.”

Developers Lynnet Leisure and Clyde Valley Housing Association are to build two four-storey blocks of flats with access from Hornal Road.

A South Lanarkshire Council spokesman explained: “The land was sold by the council in the 2004-2005 period for industrial use for the construction of a warehouse.

“As is the case with all industrial plots, the land was advertised on the council’s website and through the Scottish Property Network.

“The land was sold at a rate of £90,000 which was the prevailing rate at that time.”