South Lanarkshire councillors are pushing for the site of McWhirter House in Larkhall to remain a social care facility.
At the executive committee meeting on March 2, it was announced that the former McWhirter House, previously owned by social work services, will be transferred to the housing services.
Councillor Richard Nelson asked for the premises to remain as a facility for social care in Larkhall.
He said: “I have some concerns that this appeared in the paper.
"For a long time now at the executive meetings and social work meetings I’ve been asking for updates on McWhirter and received nothing until I saw this in the paper - so I'm a bit disappointed to be honest as an elected member I wasn’t involved.
“I’m seeking some assurance that this won’t be used for housing, we had a community engagement event in Larkhall and it was openly said there that this would remain under social work, so I would still like that earmarked for some form of social care in Larkhall.
“For too long now Larkhall has been used to build, we need to give something back to the community and to keep the elected members involved as we have to speak to the community to let them know what is happening.”
Councillor Peter Craig, agreed, and he said: “It was an excellent consultation which took place, it included a lot of the Larkhall community.
"I was also quite surprised to see the McWhirter home on the agenda.
"I know the community expects something from social work and the NHS in the area. Whatever we build in Larkhall should be complementary to that.”
The intention for the site is to keep elected members informed as the project is developed and to maximise any opportunities to develop proposals on how to go forward with the site.
Social work and housing will be involved in the future development, although there are no proposals for the site at this point, planners will be open minded of what will be brought forward.
The McWhirter site is valued at around £100,000 to £499,999 and is one of two sites in South Lanarkshire to be transferred.
Montrose House in Hamilton is to be transferred from the council’s corporate resources services to a corporate land bank for development.
*Don't miss the latest headlines from around Lanarkshire. Sign up to our newsletters here.
And did you know Lanarkshire Live had its own app? Download yours for free here.
