Jackson Carlaw MSP and Paul Masterton MP have re-stated their opposition to any house building proposal for Braidbar Quarry and Huntly Park as the remediation of Braidbar Quarry is set to be discussed at a meeting of the East Renfrewshire full council on Wednesday.
A report prepared for the full council taking place on Halloween asks elected members to give approval for the Director of Environment to enter into discussions with Advance Construction Group over the potential remediation of Braidbar Quarry with a further report prepared for councillors in future.
Advance Construction Group made an approach to the council in 2016 to express an interest in working collaboratively with the local authority ‘to remediate the site through the delivery of a residential led mixed-use development’. In the run up to the 2017 council elections, it emerged that this proposal for the commercial development of Braidbar Quarry also included Huntly Park as part of the package.
In October 2017, Mr Carlaw and Mr Masterton issued a local survey on the potential for a house building proposal at Braidbar Quarry and Huntly Park with 95% of participants responding that they would be against any such proposal.
Paragraph 17 of the council report states ‘Huntly Park requires to be protected and/ or improved’ and the Conservative politicians will be writing to the council to seek clarification on whether this means development at Huntly Park is off the table.
Commenting Jackson Carlaw MSP said:
‘Paul and I are clear that we remain firmly opposed to any proposal subsequently brought forward for the commercial development of Braidbar Quarry where Huntly Park is included as part of the masterplan’.
‘At the same time as Shawwood Park has been identified as the favoured site for a new leisure centre, it is a matter of some intrigue that a report potentially opening the door for the commercial development of another local green space is to be considered by the council’.
Commenting Paul Masterton MP said:
‘It is vital that our ever diminishing green field sites in East Renfrewshire are safeguarded and the results of our survey show that a Braidbar Quarry development proposal including Huntly Park is completely unwanted by local residents’.
‘The report makes a note about Huntly Park being protected and we will be writing to the Director of Environment to seek clarification on whether this amounts to an unequivocal declaration from the council that Huntly Park will be excluded from any future development proposal’.
Giffnock and Thornliebank Councillor Gordon Wallace added:
‘One of my key pledges in the 2017 local elections was to preserve our natural environment and open green spaces. The council’s persistence to overturn a decision from the Scottish Government Reporter in 2010 that ruled out the quarry and surrounding area for future development must be called into question given the principal reasons that led to that verdict remain. We cannot allow ourselves to enter into discussions where the net result has the potential to result in irreparable damage to our environment’.
Full Council Papers: Agenda Item 12, Braidbar Quarry – Report by Director of the Environment, pgs. 99 – 106 https://www.eastrenfrewshire.gov.uk/CHttpHandler.ashx?id=23315&p=0