Bearsden Golf Club in plea to public to support controversial homes plan

Local people, led by Bearsden North Community Council, have expressed concern over the plan by Robertson Homes for 65 homes at Thorn Road.

The main concern is increased pollution from additional traffic as Bearsden Cross has been named one of the worst areas for air quality in Scotland.

But club officials, who sold the land to the developer, argue it will bring “significant local advantages as well as safeguard the club’s future”.

Doreen Adams, club captain, said: “Our club members are an active part of the community and we consulted extensively before making the decision to sell land to fund an upgraded nine-hole course.

“I would stress this land is already designated for new homes and Robertson Homes was the preferred bidder as it’s a family owned company and its attitude to housing design and environmental issues was most attuned with our own. We have invested significant amounts of time and money to get the best possible outcomes, including incorporating local flooding improvements into the plan, upgrading facilities for coaching kids and funding a clean up of a stretch of the Antonine Wall which crosses part of the proposed new course.”

She added that without the funding and upgrade, “the future of the club and of the greenbelt land it occupies 
become highly uncertain”.

But Gordon Cox, joint convenor of Bearsden North Community Council, told the Herald the community council objected to the application currently presented to East Dunbartonshire Council.

He said: “This is principally on two fronts. One is the drainage issue. While they say they have taken steps to ensure the drainage is properly dealt with, we have some 
concerns over the detail.

“But the biggest issue we have is the question of air quality, as Bearsden Cross is one of the worst 
areas for this in Scotland. It is certainly identified by the council as an area requiring significant improvement, and of course there’s a school there.

“This development is bound to result in an increase in traffic. There will be, say, 65 extra cars making a journey at least twice a day and really the only route for them is down Thorn Road to the Cross. There’s a lot of bad air quality. How are you going to mitigate the extra traffic congestion as a result of this housing development? We would like to see how they propose to deal with that.”

He said there were additional concerns over local schools already being very full and GP surgeries overflowing.

Mr Cox added: “We do understand that the golf course provides an important social function and there are pressures on golf clubs, and we are sympathetic to that but we do have concerns from the local community’s point of view.”

No date has yet been set for the plan to come before East Dunbartonshire Council.