In Summer 1977, Councillors had a huge problem to address. Blantyre, like today, needed many more council homes, in fact it needed over 400!
One site earmarked to help alleviate this was the vacant land at Cemetery Road, across from the Cemetery, where once tenements had stood. One resident wasn’t happy though, as Hamilton District Council had intended to slap a compulsory purchase order on about 1000 square foot of his land. Mr McMenemy was told the council needed part of his garden to complete their plans to build 30 new small homes.
It was certainly a discussion point, for if Mr McMenemy was successful in his appeal, 8 of the homes would not be built. The residents viewpoint was that the homes could be built anywhere else in lots of vacant space in Blantyre without having to disrupt people’s lives. The council argued, (rather poorly) that Mr McMenemy would still be left with a large garden of sorts.
I’m not sure of the outcome, but the case was to be put to the Secretary of State for Scotland and of course a number of houses at Catherine’s Walk and Barry Gardens were built shortly after.
