WWHC/WCRC disengage from Neighbourhood planning process

West Whitlawburn Housing Co-operative and Whitlawburn Community Resource Centre have reluctantly withdrawn from The Springhall and Whitlawburn Neighbourhood Planning process due to serious concerns with the manner in which this process is being developed by South Lanarkshire Council and it’s agent Heathy n Happy Community Development Trust.

WWHC, the predominant landlord, and by far the most significant community anchor organisation in the area, was initially excluded (along with WCRC) from participating in the neighbourhood planning process by South Lanarkshire Council/Healthy n Happy.

Latterly , having been invited to 2 meetings in April/May this year, WWHC raised considerable concerns with SLC/HnH about the manner in which the process was being managed and developed.

These concerns centred on ambiguous, unreliable and unfounded information being placed in the public domain and, very concerningly, the exclusion of minority ethnic groups from the consultation.

WWHC requested that SLC/HnH accurately impart clear, unambiguous information to the community and asked SLC/HnH to actively include minority ethnic groups in the consultation process. SLC/HnH consciously refused to agree to either of these requests, leaving WWHC/WCRC with no option but to disengage and disassociate from, what we now consider to be, a fundamentally flawed process.

End of Statement