Fury as councillors shoot down plea to adopt Lennoxtown road

Householders in Netherton Oval and Netherton Hill, in Lennoxtown, will have to endure another year of gritting and clearing their own road after an unsuccessful motion by SNP councillors at last week’s meeting of East Dunbartonshire Council.

It’s the latest defeat in their 10-year battle to have their road adopted - which council chiefs insist is not up to a “suitable standard”.

The motion, tabled by SNP group leader Councillor Ian Mackay, called for an agreement to “support adoption as soon as practicable” and instruct a report into how adoption could be progressed.

But it was defeated by eight votes to 13 after administration councillors insisted adoption was not financially viable.

Finlay Dow, chairman of Netherton Residents Association, said: “I was disgusted by the childish behaviour of many of the councillors at the meeting.

“The SNP made a very good case, but the administration just voted with their parties rather than actually listening to the reasoning.

“It’s been 10 years now and it’s another battle lost. We’ve not lost the war though and, while I’m not sure where we go from here, we’ll regroup in the next few weeks and decide what to do next.”

Councillor Mackay said: “I don’t know why the motion was rejected.

“All we wanted was a report into the situation to give a transparent view as, from what I can see, the road is not a million miles away from being up to the adoptable standard.

“It will have to be adopted sooner rather than later, so why not listen to what the residents are saying?”

Following the meeting council leader Rhondda Geekie said: “For the council to adopt a road to its network, and take on responsibility for its ongoing maintenance and repair, specific criteria must be met. This has not been the case at this Lennoxtown location.

“This is just one example of an unadopted road, but there are many more in East Dunbartonshire.

“If we set a precedent to adopt this one example without considering the wider implications, particularly the cost, we could spend our entire roads budget on road adoptions. There are potentially £18 million of other examples throughout the area and we simply do not have the budget to do this.”

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