Stone me - council’s solution to Lanark park land dispute really rocks

The recent fencing off of an old pathway on the fringes of the park has sparked off a controversy which has hit the Gazette’s news and letters pages for the past few weeks.

So the sudden appearance of large boulders on the site of the dispute left many puzzling over what is the latest twist in the story.

Some claimed that a local businessman, building a new house next to his existing home at the edge of the park, had encroached into public land in creating the construction site and new access road.

Traditonalist Lanarkians – even ‘expats’ from over the border – have complained bitterly that the site fencing and building works now block an ancient right-of-way, used by generations of local walkers.

There has been a clamour for South Lanarkshire Council to step in.

Now the council HAS taken action, in the form of dumping large rocks at the entrance to the site,

Speaking on behalf of himself and his two Lanark council colleagues, Vivienne Shaw and Catherine McClymont, Councilor Ed Archer told the Gazette: “It was the council which took this action at our suggestion and I don’t think there is a person in the whole of Lanark who would disagree that it needed to be done.”

Now that this emergency action has been taken, officials will be looking at the planning and legal steps that can be taken to protect the disputed area in the longer term.

For more details, see this week’s Lanark Gazette.