Council leader warns EK town centre faces 'radical decline' without new masterplan

dailyrecord.co.uk:

The leader of South Lanarkshire Council has warned East Kilbride town centre faces "radical decline" unless its fortunes are transformed.

It comes after the owners of EK, East Kilbride - Sapphire - have become insolvent, plunging the future of the centre into uncertainty.Blair Nimmo and Alistair McAlinden of Interpath Advisory were appointed joint administrators at the Court of Session in Edinburgh earlier this week.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 blow just a few weeks before Christmas follows a series of difficult years for the centre.

Council leader, Joe Fagan, told Lanarkshire Live it's in "all our interests that East Kilbride can thrive again". "There are two futures for East Kilbride shopping centre – radical change or radical decline," he went on. "Our administration support a masterplan to make the whole town centre area fit for the future. "We can work together to leverage in funding and find better uses of town centre spaces but we need to have certainty from the private sector to allow us take forward a plan that works and can attract wider support." Proposals have been muted which could see the former Sainsbury’s Olympia unit transformed into a purpose-built civic facility in place of the current Civic Centre - creating a new "front door to East Kilbride" - alongside town centre