Housing on Lanark march stones site?

And the head of the family firm building it is the town citizen with probably the biggest single personal responsibility for protecting the Royal Burgh's heritage.

However, Frank Gunning, who apart from being involved in the developers building 25 new homes at Bellfield, is also chairman of the Wallace Trust AND the Royal Burgh of Lanark Community Council, is far from attempting to conceal what some might see as a clash of interests or even loyalties.

Indeed, long before he would have legally had to make his family firm's plans public, he has revealed the scheme to colleagues and, through them, to the rest of the community, inviting a full debate even before a bid for planning permission is made.

He laid his cards firmly on the table at a meeting of the community council to which he distributed a written statement, signed by him on behalf of Marchstone Homes, the company his family has set up to build the houses on a site where one of Lanark's historic boundary march stones sits.

This is the second time that a development of a historic site in Lanark has been linked to Frank; another firm with Gunning family connections, Rockridge, has planning permission to build flats on the Castlegate site of what was reputed to have been William Wallace's home in the Royal Burgh.

As with that development, Frank pledged that Lanark's heritage will be protected when the Bellfield development goes ahead.

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