Owenstown already has 1500 on waiting list for homes

THE backers of the planned new town in the Douglas Valley, Owenstown, claim they already have almost a quarter of its future population signed up to live there – before even the first brick is laid.

The Hometown Foundation told the Gazette that over 1500 people from all over the United Kingdom have now said they are interested in making a new start here in Clydesdale SHOULD the £500 million town, the same size as Lanark, ever be built on a vacant site near Rigside.

These 1500 future Owenstowners and the Foundation are just awaiting a ruling on whether or not the project has been granted planning permission, a decision South Lanarkshire Council is expected to make in April.

In recent weeks the Foundation has been building its case to persuade councillors to defy their own planning officials who want them to throw the scheme out because it is against policy.

The Foundation, set up to turn into a reality the dream of building 3200 ‘affordable’ houses in an ex-mining area economically depressed for a generation, is doing its best to show councillors that giving the green light will trigger a massive influx of investment and shift a skilled population into the area.

For more on this, pick up a copy of this week’s Carluke and Lanark Gazette.