Owenstown plans binned by South Lanarkshire Council

Although a last-ditch appeal against the refusal of the plan to build 3000 new homes for a population the same size as Lanark in the economically beleagured Douglas Valley will take place, heavy hints were being dropped this week that the developers will take their project south of the border or even across the Irish Sea where they expect a warmer reception.

Councillors followed the recommendationn of their planning officers that the scheme be refued on the grounds that it did not fit in with the council’s “development policy” for the area.

The council decision coming on April Fool’s Day was a coincidence the disappointed but undaunted Hometown Foundation Trustees couldn’t avoid mentioning in its post-refusal meeting press statement.

It read: “The Trustees are likely to appeal the decision to Scottish Ministers because of the national significance of the project. However the Foundation will now focus its efforts on alternative sites which have already been identified in England and Ireland.”

For more on this story see this week’s Carluke and Lanark Gazette.