End in sight for work on St Nicholas Church, Lanark

Various deadlines have come and gone for the completion of the exterior facelift of the joined buildings at Lanark Cross, a project which started in 2008.

After the original contractor went out of business, a revised completion date of September last year was given, only to be followed by another revised target date of the project being finished for Christmas.

However, with spring dawning, work is still ongoing.

The hold-up was at least partially due to the contractors and South Lanarkshire Council failing to come to an agreement over the amount of time that the main road into Lanark, the A73, needed to be closed for necessary works on the side of the building adjoining it.

While it was understood that the contractors would have prefered a straight run at the works, with that stretch of the A73 closed for five days, the council, as roads authority, thought this would be an unacceptable disruption to Lanark town centre traffic and trade.

So it offered an alternative scheme of closing the A73 overnight on successive Sunday nights until the works were completed - which was agreed.

For the full story, pick up a copy of this week's Lanark Gazette which is in the shops now.