Residents in Thankerton and area are confused by the council's actions

​In a post by Thankerton Improvement Group and Thancard Trust, they revealed that while the council are pushing communities towards asset transfers, particularly those halls earmarked for closure by SLLC, they were unable to book the hall to hold a public meeting to discuss their options!

The post read: “The Village Hall is likely to be closed permanently at the end of this month. We would like to invite anyone wishing to discuss potentially saving our hall as a community owned asset, to a public meeting tonight at 7pm in Thankerton Bowling Club. We were not able to book the village hall as it’s already closed for new bookings!

“The trustees of the Thancard Trust and committee of Thankerton Improvement Group will be on hand to discuss options for the village hall, and the play park.

“We have for some time looked ourselves at managing the hall, but so far not enough people have shown an interest. The Thancard Trust is a charity and designed to own and support such assets, but it cannot do it alone.

“This is probably your last chance to step up and save the hall. It’s a great space, but does need investment in both time and money.”

Concerns have also been raised locally about the removal of the Portaloo facility from the Tinto Hill car park.

A spokesperson for South Lanarkshire Council, said: “At the height of the pandemic Tinto Hill experienced an unprecedented influx of visitors which resulted in additional pressures on local services and the road network.

“We mitigated this by providing additional parking along with a temporary toilet facility.

“With numbers back to pre-covid levels, and the usual seasonal decrease, the temporary facility has now been removed.”

A spokesperson for SLLC said: “We have received no recent booking requests for Thankerton Hall from Thancard Trust and the TIG (Thankerton Improvement Group).

“In general, when we receive any enquiry about a hall booking, we advise that final confirmation would be pending staff availability. At Thankerton there is sufficient cover to accommodate bookings currently.”