MEMBERS of a leafy bowling club are to receive up to £10,000 each after deciding to sell the site to housing developers.
The decision to accept an offer – reported to be about £1 million – has infuriated locals adjoining Whitecraigs Bowling Club in East Renfrewshire.
The area boasts some of the most expensive real estate in Scotland, with house prices well above the average and several £1m-plus homes nearby The bowling club, which opened in 1935, is recognised as one of the best examples of Art Deco housing in Scotland.
The clubhouse is not listed, but any future plans will have to win the approval of Historic Environment Scotland.
The leadership of the bowling club insists members had every right to take the money.
John Adam, who has served as president of the club, said: “If you own shares in a company and sell them on at a profit, whose business is it other than your [own]?
“If you sell your house and make a profit. Is it anyone else’s business if you profit?
“The club has had to come to a halt because there are not enough people to sustain it. We had to effectively liquidate the asset.”
He said pay-outs would be calculated on a sliding scale, depending on length of membership and “grade” of membership.
Mr Adam said three-quarters of members are aged 75 or over and conceded the maximum anyone could expect is about £10,000.
However, local residents are left with the uncertainty of what will happen to their upmarket neighbourhood now that a property company has bought the recreational site. Near-neighbour Olivia Fairbairn said: “I don’t want them building houses on it. It is an open space, designed for recreation.
“Before it closed, the clubhouse was used as a chess club and a bridge club.”
Graphic designer James Gilchrist, 25, who lives two doors down from the club on Ayr Road, added: “If they build houses, the increase in traffic will not be ideal.
“It could drive down house prices and result in a loss of privacy.”
Housebuilder McCarthy and Stone previously expressed an interest in developing a £3m scheme on the site. It even reduced its blueprint from three storeys to two to accommodate the concerns of local homeowners.
However, the company said the bowling club decided to sell to rival Mactaggart and Mickel instead.
A Mactaggart and Mickel spokesperson said: “The site was put forward for sale as membership was dwindling and there was an over-provision of bowling clubs in the area.”
A spokesman for East Renfrewshire Council spokesman said no planning application had been submitted.
He added: “This site is classified as being within the General Urban Area in the adopted Local Development Plan, and is also part of the Upper Whitecraigs Conservation Area.”
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