Hamilton road scheme will cost £400,000

Nov 26 2009 by John Rowbotham, Hamilton Advertiser

SOUTH Lanarkshire Council will have to fork more than £400,000 to acquire ground needed for a Hamilton road scheme.

The money will be paid to George Sainsbury and members of the Sainsbury family, owners of land used for many years as a builders merchants at 8-10 Wellhall Road.

Bosses at the local authority say the quarter-of-an-acre site is needed for the £3.5m project to construct a new link between Burnbank Road and Wellhall Road.

It also involves the reintroduction of two-way traffic on Clydesdale Street and a 100-space park and ride for Hamilton West rail commuters.

At a meeting of the council’s estate’s committee this week, councillors were told that a price for the land at 8-10 Wellhall Road had been negotiated.

Purchase price of the property would be £375,000 exclusive of VAT with the council also paying Stamp Duty Land Tax Liability of £11,411, legal fees of more than £1000 and surveyors fees of £3687 plus VAT.

Enterprise director Colin McDowall told councillors: “The (link road) project is identified in the South Lanarkshire Local Plan as a necessary improvement to the roads network and also to support requirements identified in the Structure Plan for an additional 4000 houses needed in the Hamilton housing area.”

Mr McDowall added that many of those homes are expected to be built on the town’s western edge.

Their construction between 2011 and 2018 will lead to extra traffic using Peacock Cross, a bottleneck at peak times.

In July, the Advertiser revealed that the council would have to pay to oil giants Shell almost £2m for land also required for the 125-yard road link.

That land is the site of the Wellhall Road petrol station which will be demolished to make way for the scheme.

Council officials negotiating for land needed for the development have the backing of a Compulsory Purchase Order.

A public inquiry held in May into the council’s CPO application ended in their favour.

Scottish Ministers accepted without modification the inquiry Reporter’s findings that the CPO be confirmed. A spokesman for the council said they expected to have control over all the land required for the development by February next year. Demolition and site clearance work is due to start early in the next financial year with construction work beginning towards the end of 2010. It is hoped that the entire project will be complete by March or April, 2011.