Grounds for complaint by Lanark residents?

Now some of those living in the cul-de-sac of Stuart Drive have mounted a campaign to have the small grassy area of public ground properly cleaned up, claiming that a child playing there could contract a serious illness from the dog dirt.

Leading that campaign is resident Ronnie Logan who featured in the Gazette in 2013 when he lambasted his landlord, Clydesdale Housing Association, for its management of the area.

Although only around a fifth of those living in that part of Lanark are still tenants of the Association, which took over the homes from the old Scottish Special Housing Association decades ago, it still carries the resposibility for the upkeep of the public areas.

Said Ronnie: “After I complained about the Associations’s performance through the Gazette a few years back, things improved for a while but now they seem to be trying to unload their responsibilities completely.

“That grassy area hasn’t been tended to since before the Lanimers and that was two months ago.

“The area is now in a dreadful state, covered with litter and, worse than that, dog dirt everywhere.”

As the grass is often played on by local children, there are serious concerns for the health of these youngsters; it is well known that children can catch serious illnesses, leading to blindness, if they come into contact with dog droppings.

An Association spokesman said it had not abandoned the maintenance of the public areas in that part of Lanark.

However, he did admit to having to cut back on the work after it ceased making a separate charge to residents for this service.

He added: “As we don’t have the income stream to pay for the works we had to reduce the maintenance we carry out there.”