Hundreds attend rally to oppose Crofthead Park development plans

Sep 16 2010 by Alastair McNeill, Hamilton Advertiser

AROUND 400 people attended a rally last Sunday to voice their opposition to plans to build on Uddingston’s Crofthead Park.

Campaigners carried banners and placards to highlight their opposition to the lease agreement made between South Lanarkshire Council and a building developer earlier this year to create a new medical centre on the site.

Protesters sang as they were accompanied by piper Hugh Ward. The protest, attended by adults and children, was organised by the Crofthead Action Group.

It was set up after the council approved a deal with Alexander Braidwood Ltd earlier this year to build on the land for a one-off payment of £210,000 and a nominal rent of £1 each year.

The Lincluden Surgery has pointed out that its Bellshill Road premises are “unsuitable” and they consider the Crofthead Park site to be to be the only suitable alternative.

Jimmy Keenan of the campaign group told Sunday’s rally that £210,000 was a “miserable” amount of money in today’s land values.

The deal, he said, meant the park would be “lost forever”.

Mr Keenan added: “It has been a showground, it has been a picture hall, it has been a putting green, it has been the gala day park, and today it is the children’s playpark and kickabout area.

“It is the last outdoor facility and patch of green space that survives in the centre of Uddingston and we are determined to fight to hold on to it in its entirety.”

Uddingston Councillor Jim McGuigan, who has opposed building on the site, said this week he hoped to arrange a meeting with NHS Lanarkshire and the health board to look at alternative sites.

He added:“I want to impress upon them that there are several other options which are in their ownership, council ownership, or in private hands.

“As Sunday’s rally showed, there is a large volume of opinion against siting the medical centre in the public park.”