Graeme Souness plea to SNP over £350m job-boosting scheme
SUNDAY MAIL EXCLUSIVE: The project is set to go before North Lanarkshire Council next month but SNP councillors are understood to be planning to reject it.
Rangers legend Graeme Souness has warned the SNP not to scupper his plans for A £350m development because he supports a Labour by-election candidate.
Souness's firm Orchard Brae has proposed a massive development near Coatbridge, North Lanarkshire that could bring hundreds of homes and thousands of jobs to the area.
The Sunday Mail can reveal that Amazon and delivery firm Evri are in talks to operate from the site, which could create up to 2000 jobs.
But it is understood the SNP North Lanarkshire council group are planning to vote against the EuroPark proposals which have been in development for almost a decade.
One senior SNP source told the Sunday Mail the stance was related to Souness's apparent backing of Labour and the party's Hamilton by-election candidate Davy Russell.
They said: 'We have been whipped to oppose these plans even though many of us don't agree. It's a case of playing politics with people's lives and the economy, just because of Graeme Souness. '
The SNP' s group leader Tracey Carragher denied she's instructed her members to vote a certain way and a spokeswoman said the suggestion was 'slanderous' and an 'attempt to influence votes'.
Souness appeared in a Rangers bar in Blantyre earlier this month alongside Russell, sporting a 'vote for Davy' badge.
The former Scotland midfielder said he was of 'no particular political persuasion' and said: 'I was in Larkhall two weeks ago supporting a dear friend (Davy Russell) who is hoping to be elected as the next MSP for the area.
'Surely there wouldn't be any party politics involved when the Orchard Brae development proposal goes before the council.
'As well as the creation of over 2000 new jobs our plan includes new housing a two new primary schools, a medical centre and a state of the art £2.5 million football facility for the local community while retaining 64 per cent of the site as green space.
'All of this at a time when we are desperately in need of good housing good jobs and economic growth for the people of North Lanarkshire. '
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The development has caused controversy since it was first proposed in 2018 as it would be built on greenbelt land.
The strip of land between the villages of Calderbank and Carnbroe was formerly owned by the daughters of Tory Home Secretary William Whitelaw, who died in 1999.
Orchard Brae is run by the Souness family and one-time bankrupt Scott Gillespie, a member of the Gillespie mining dynasty who went bust owing £60million.
The proposal is for almost 1000 homes, a community football facility, a community centre and two schools alongside three large zones for business development.
More than half of the site will be kept as green space.
Campaigners have called for the scheme to be rejected arguing it would have a 'catastrophic and irreversible effect on the nature and biodiversity of these areas'.
The Woodhall, Faskine and Palacecraig Conservation Group said in its objection: 'The lighting from these buildings would also have a detrimental effect on protected wildlife such as bats, which are currently present on the site. As would the increased noise and pollution from the vehicles (including HGVs) that would be regularly accessing the site.'
The SNP is the second largest group in the council with 24 representatives to the Labour administration's 33. Their vote could be crucial in deciding whether the plan gets the go-ahead, with the Tories understood to be voting against it.
A spokeswoman for Carragher said: 'SNP councillors will have a free vote of this matter and, as always, will conduct their votes solely on the basis of the merits of the application.'
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