Fury at Carluke BID after charities are billed

New Beginnings co-ordinator Mary McLellan – whose charity helps the most vulnerable in Clydesdale – fears her service will ‘go to the wall’ if they’re asked to come up with the three-figure sum every year until at least 2018.

Mary (68) said: “For these BID people to take the money out of the pockets of the most vulnerable people in Clydesdale is abhorrent and absolutely appalling.

“What they are doing is underhand, heavy-handed and arrogant.

“I’m so annoyed, because we don’t even know what this money is going to pay for.

“We didn’t know anything about having to pay this annual levy until a fortnight ago. I know that meetings were held where the financial implications of it were discussed but we were never invited. It was all done behind closed doors.

“We only found out about the charges when we received a letter from South Lanarkshire Council, which seems to have been appointed as the BID collection agency.”

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