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Whitlawburn
Whitlawburn towers viewed from the south-west
Whitlawburn Show map of South Lanarkshire Whitlawburn Whitlawburn shown within Scotland Show map of Glasgow council area Whitlawburn Whitlawburn (Scotland) Show map of Scotland
Population	3,500
OS grid reference	NS61815941
Country	Scotland
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	GLASGOW
Postcode district	G72 8
Dialling code	0141
Police	Scottish
Fire	Scottish
Ambulance	Scottish
EU Parliament	Scotland
UK Parliament	Rutherglen and Hamilton West
Scottish Parliament	Rutherglen
List of places UK Scotland 55°48′30″N 4°10′49″W / 55.80826°N 4.180298°W / 55.80826; -4.180298Coordinates: 55°48′30″N 4°10′49″W / 55.80826°N 4.180298°W / 55.80826; -4.180298

Whitlawburn is a residential area in the town of Cambuslang in South Lanarkshire, Scotland. It is located south of the town centre on high ground overlooking the Greater Glasgow urban area.

Location and housing

The majority of the housing is a local authority 'scheme' constructed in the late 1960s and early 1970s to alleviate housing shortages in the area.^[1] The territory was previously farmland including the Whitlawburn farm, which itself took its name from the Whitlaw Burn stream which runs down from the Cathkin Braes at the western side of the district.

Pedestrian underpass between Springhall and Whitlawburn

A dual carriageway which is part of the A749 road running from East Kilbride to Glasgow carries a local bus route, and also separates Whitlawburn from the neighbouring areas of Springhall and Cathkin to the west which are part of the town of Rutherglen - however most local amenities are shared between the three districts. An underpass runs under the road between Springhall and Whitlawburn. To the east, a sprawling network of housing developments at Greenlees spreads out over fields towards Halfway. There is also an entrance to Cambuslang Public Park.

Bute Tower, one of six multi-storey blocks in the area

The Whitlawburn area itself is dominated visually by six near-identical 12-storey tower blocks (named Arran, Ailsa, Benmore, Bute, Kintore and Roslin and containing 432 apartments)^[2] on the south side of the main road through the district, with modern tenements arranged in a grid pattern to either side, along with a local retail area (Nisa, Greggs, William Hill, soft play area, etc).^[3] Built using the Reema method of construction and originally uniformly grey concrete and brutalist in appearance, the area was regenerated from the 1990s onwards with the tenement buildings painted/rendered in brighter colours and given pitched roofs (they had originally been flat-roofed despite the frequently wet conditions in the west of Scotland) and the tower blocks fitted with cladding, roofs and ambient lighting in a £21m project.^[4][5] The towers have the same design as others nearby (Springhall, Halfway, Cambuslang), but they now look quite different from their ‘cousins’ as a result of the refurbishment. In 1989 West Whitlawburn Housing Co-operative Ltd was established by residents who were unhappy with deteriorating housing conditions and out of a sense of unfairness at the tenements being prioritised.^[6] The organisation also put in place an extensive CCTV and concierge system.^[7]

Lorne Terrace tenements in East Whitlawburn

In 2016, plans were approved to further improve the area by replacing the less popular flats in the eastern part of the scheme with new houses;^[8] this followed confirmation that parts of the district were among the most deprived communities in the country according to the 2016 Scottish index of multiple deprivation.^[9][10] When the East Whitlawburn Tenants Management Cooperative handed their managed properties back to council control in 2013, the datazone was in the 'top' 0.5% in Scotland for deprivation.^[11]

Field to the south of the neighbourhood (2012) which has since been converted into a housing development

The local community centre^[12] featuring a 5-a-side football pitch is situated to the south of the towers, as are two small 21st century housing zones, one a development of large private residences with a separate vehicle entrance off the bypass road, known as Lomond View, and the other a group of 100 modest houses built by West Whitlawburn Housing Cooperative accessed from the main road.^[13] These properties back onto farmland and a golf course (Kirkhill Golf Club) which are part of the green belt at the edge of the Glasgow urban area. However, in 2016 a planning application by Persimmon for 240 new houses in a vacant field (accessed via the road passing the golf club) was approved for construction,^[14] despite some concerns regarding possible flooding and school provision.^[15][16]

cottage flats off Western Road

On the north side of the road is a system of terraced houses and cottage flats with common parking areas, as well as the local public house,^[17] the new buildings of Cathkin High School, a further group of small houses built on the school’s previous site (Cathkin Rise by Barratt),^[18][19][20] and Holmhills Park which leads to the Kirkhill residential area to the north. Coats Park, the ground of Cambuslang Rugby Club, is also nearby.

Amenities

Administratively Whitlawburn lies within the Cambuslang West ward of the South Lanarkshire Council area which is also the extent of the neighbourhood community policing zone.^[21][22] The nearest train stations are Burnside and Kirkhill which are both approximately 1 mile from the western end of the district.

the new Cathkin High School is situated to the north of Whitlawburn; the original was on the main road within the neighbourhood

The closest schools for younger children are Loch Primary and St Anthony’s RC Primary (both in Springhall – the schools are built on adjacent sites, a common occurrence in Scotland, and nowadays share a playground)^[23] and West Coats Primary (Kirkhill). However children living in the new Persimmon development will attend Cairns Primary in Halfway. For older children, nondenominational Cathkin High School (which also houses a nursery^[24] and a special school, Rutherglen High)^[25] is on the doorstep of Whitlawburn, but Catholic students have to make their way to Eastfield to attend Trinity High.

Notable residents

• 
  Darren Young, footballer (Aberdeen F.C., Dunfermline Athletic, Scotland u21) and manager (Albion Rovers)^[26]


• 
  Derek Young, footballer (also Aberdeen, Dunfermline and Scotland u21 plus Partick Thistle), brother of Darren^[27]

References

External links

Media related to Whitlawburn, South Lanarkshire at Wikimedia Commons