An East Kilbride shopping centre is to be converted into a housing development

dailyrecord.co.uk:

Plans for South Lanarkshire Council to convert part of an East Kilbride shopping centre into a housing development have been given the go-ahead.Councillors on the community and enterprise resources committee this week (April 23) approved plans for the local authority to take ownership of Centre West Shopping Centre in the town due to years of significant decline leading to a third of the units in the facility being vacant.East Kilbride shopping centre is split in ownership.

Centre West is owned by Sapphire 15 and the rest of the centre is owned by Sapphire 16 – this section of the facility will be marketed for sale over the coming months.The Lanarkshire Live app is available to download now.

Get all the news from your area – as well as features, entertainment, sport and the latest on Lanarkshire’s recovery from the coronavirus pandemic – straight to your fingertips, 24/7.The free download features the latest breaking news and exclusive stories, and allows you to customise your page to the sections that matter most to you.Head to the App Store and never miss a beat in Lanarkshire - iOS - Android The council plans to turn the centre into a new neighbourhood in the heart of the town, and this follows public consultation which identified residential development as the preferred use of the site.

This will also form part of the wider East Kilbride Master Plan.Plans to demolish Centre West to make way for the housing development have been put in place with proposals to also develop a ‘Civic Hub’ at the site.The existing owners are expecting a legal agreement to facilitate this as early as summer, with the transfer of ownership taking place between December 2025 and January 2026.Once ownership is transferred to the council, site