1700 new jobs for Douglas Valley

Mar 10 2011 by George Topp, Lanark & Carluke

A £30M leisure, retail and industrial development is set to bring up to 1700 new jobs to the Douglas Valley.

SRG Estates, part of the Scottish Coal group, hope to start work on the new development later this year.

South Lanarkshire Council’s planning committee approved the massive development on Tuesday – despite protests by anti-coal activists.

And the police were called to remove protestors from a roof adjacent to the council chambers.

Activists, objecting to the development of what they claim is “ecologically important land”, had been trying to disrupt the meeting by dropping stink bombs into the ventilation system, according to council sources.

Despite this councillors gave permission in principle for the development straddling a 230-hectare site between junctions 11 and 12 of the M74, at Poneil/Happendon Wood.

And, they welcomed the news that the development – in one of South Lanarkshire’s worst areas of unemployment – could represent a £33m boost to the local economy, with the creation of as many as 1700 jobs.

Committee members were told that the site has been divided into four distinct areas, three to the east, and one to the west of the M74.

It was proposed to establish:

l Industrial and storage/distribution warehousing.

l Business units/office accommodation.

l Hotel with conference and commercial leisure facilities.

l Retail/restaurant floorspace.

l Associated landscaping, open space and associated infrastructure.

Councillor Graham Scott, chairman of the council’s planning committee, said: “Government guidance emphasises that the planning system has a significant role in supporting sustainable economic growth in rural areas and that developments which provide employment or community benefit should be encouraged.

“In many ways, this plan ticks all of the boxes, as it represents a significant application which will bring a huge boost to the local economy and much-needed jobs.

“Also, the site is ideally located for the strategic road network and I am sure the new proposal will complement the existing Dewars facility which has been operating with great success in this area for a number of years.”

Councillor Danny Meikle said it was “brilliant news” for the area.

“Quite simply, this area has the highest unemployment in South Lanarkshire and I hope this much-needed development goes a long way towards turning the tide and getting local people back to work.

“The developers have already brought Dewars to the area, one of the largest whisky developments in the country, and now with this latest proposal I hope we are at last seeing positive news for the Douglas Valley.”

But the councillor said it was sad objectors, many with no obvious local links, and coming from as far away as London, the south of England and Aberdeenshire, had tried to block the scheme.

“There were 72 objection letters, of which 20 were from outside of Lanarkshire, with significant numbers being from England. A further 18 were either from one address in Coalburn, or came in from anonymous email addresses.

“I do not mind people objecting, but here we do seem to have possibly a large number of potentially spurious objections, and from people who are not local and having to live or work in the area long-term.

“The Douglas Valley is one of deprivation and suffers from lack of work. The land involved is mainly a mix of rough grazing, sand and gravel or opencast coal extraction sites, and forestry, none of which could be described as prime land, or of outstanding beauty. This is an ideal use for that land, especially if it brings prosperity to local people,” concluded Councillor Meikle.

A spokesman for the developers said on Wednesday: “We’re delighted the council have approved plans for this mixed use development in Poniel. The development will build on the success of the Dewars development providing hundreds of local jobs through construction and running of the scheme. The site’s excellent connections will help attract new businesses and some much-needed economic investment. Marketing of the site to will now begin. Detailed plans and site preparation should commence later this year.”