The controversial sale of a piece of Barrhead’s natural history went ahead earlier this month – and achieved almost six times the guide price.
The land surrounding Boyleston Quarry near Fereneze golf course sold for a whopping £203,000 on Thursday, October 6, following a guide price of just £35,000.
Future Property Auctions, who marketed the area, suggested in sales material that the land is ripe for a housing development or a waste transfer site.
It’s potentially bad news for local residents who want to see the site preserved.
The area has been designated a site of special scientific interest due to minerals visible as a result of quarrying. The work revealed exposures of the Clyde Plateau Lavas, which were formed around 360 million years ago, during the early part of the Carboniferous period.
Kirsty Menzies, who runs the Fereneze Braes of Barrhead Twitter account, said the sale was concerning.
Speaking to the Paisley Daily Express before the auction, she said: “The ecological value of the area is amazing. And local people walk a lot around the area. So the fact that it’s going up for sale is quite worrying.”
Kirsty believes that residents would not only lose a biodiverse part of their community through the quarry’s development, but that the amount of noise and pollution of any waste transfer site, or house building would be “not a good thing”.
East Renfrewshire MP Kirsten Oswald has made enquiries regarding the sale and plans for future development.
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