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300 Attend Protest Meeting

17th February , 1984, Barrhead News

The village hasn’t seen anything like it for many a year. The Glen Hall was packed to overflowing on Tuesday evening at the public meeting called to discuss the proposed closure of Neilston station.

All seats in the hall were quickly taken and villagers still packed in to stand down the sides of the sides and at the rear of the hall which stretched as far as the Parish Church. This was a tremendous demonstration of how strongly villagers feel about the closure of the station. All sections of the community were represented, all united in the determination that Neilston station will not close. The meeting was attended by Regional Councillor Mr J. McGuire, District Councillor Mr J. Hannigan and Mr Ewen from Uplawmoor Community Council.

Mr. R Collins, chairman of the community council, welcomed all present and said how pleased he was to see such a tremendous attendance. He then explained the reasons why the community council opposed the closure. The council felt there were certain anomalies in Strathclyde Region’s plan for the area. There had been no consultation with local bodies and especially with the community council, no time had been given for objections to be made, there were serious social and economic implications residentially and industrially, the alternative transport suggested was unsuitable, educationally children would suffer by not being able to attend the extra curricular activities at Eastwood school, the extra traffic created by eight buses taking children to school at peak times, the elderly would be inconvenienced, commuters to the SSEB, Langside college and the Victoria Infirmary would have no alternative means of travel.

Mr W. Chrystal, secretary, said he had written a number of letters on the subject to various people. Renfrew District Council replied that the chief executive was on holiday and did not mention sending a deputy. Mr Gray of the Scottish Passenger Transport Executive had no comment to make, but supplied a letter setting out the various procedures that would have to be gone through before any closure took place and that this was not imminent and in any event, bus services would be improved. Local MP, Mr Allan Stewart, in his reply, remarked that there had been a steady build up of population in Neilston and that the regional council’s decision was surprising. There were letters of support from Uplawmoor, Newton Mearns, Dunlop and Barrhead Community Councils.

Regional Councillor Mr J McGuire said that transport cost the regional council £61 million a year but he was completely opposed to the closure of Neilston station. When the matter was discussed in the regional council he spoke for 20 minutes against the decision to close Neilston station and was the only one to do so. He also said he had abstained from voting because there were many things in the overall plan which were good and he did not want to vote against them. He was of the opinion that transport within the region had never been properly integrated. The chairman threw the meeting open to the public and many points were made. What is the difference in the cost of closing the line …………………