£200,000 revamp approved for Lanark bus stance

Strathclyde Partnership for Transport (SPT) agreed to fund both projects while finalising its budget for next financial year last Friday.

The lion’s share of the cash – £200,000 – is to go on a long-awaited redesign and upgrading of the Lanark interchange or bus stance, a hub for train travellers catching buses for journeys on to Clydesdale’s villages.

Originally built in the 1970s, the stance’s tight circular layout has sparked controversy and criticism almost since its inception.

It replaced the original Lanark bus stance on the far roomier Horsemarket site now occupied by car parks and the town’s Morrisons supermarket.

Just a few years ago an elderly Biggar man was run down and killed while crossing the stance, leading to renewed calls for a redesign.

Detailed planning for the new layout is not yet complete.

The other major project agreed at Friday’s budget meeting was the spending of £40,000 on extending the park-and-ride car park near the entrance to Carstairs Junction train station to allow an extra 20 parking spaces to be created.

Work on this is not expected to start until next year.

There is no final word from SPT on calls from bodies such as Lanark Community Council for better co-ordination of bus services from Lanark with the Carstairs-Edinburgh train timetable.

There were recent improvements at Lanark, with Biggar buses being better timed to serve rail passengers travelling onward there, however.

Campaigners calling for SPT funding for the erection by South Lanarkshire Council of traffic lights at Steels Cross at Lanark, where the busy A73 road from Carluke meets the A72 Clyde Valley road, fear that project hasn’t made it into this year’s budget.

Campaigner Julia Marrs said: “While the decision not to fund the traffic lights is obviously very disappointing, I am encouraged by the council’s assurances that detailed plans for Steels Cross will be completed prior to another funding bid.

“I hope that the council and SPT will note and understand my tenacity and commitment to ensuring the brae is the safest it can be, and that outlying villages benefit from good access to main transport routes.”