The developers are attempting to take far more greenbelt than the Local Plan allows, so that they can build almost twice as many houses. To do this they want to push the West of Scotland Rugby club right out of town.

A separate application has been lodged to provide sports grounds on green fields off the Auchenhowie Road, beyond Rangers. The present Rugby pitches may not be built on until alternative provision near Milngavie or Bearsden are in place.

This is to acquire green belt by a back door. Whilst houses are not permissible in the greenbelt, sportsfields are acceptable.

However the application would include a stadium, a covered training area and large car park, which are NOT permitted in greenbelt. In this case they would dramatically damage the landscape. The rolling fields would be urbanised.

It is one thing when sportsgrounds are needed because they are not available. But in this case West of Scotland already have grounds, which are far more accessible and convenient than the site proposed. This is important because the grounds are also used for large-scale community events.

The CALA/Stewart Milne proposal depends on moving out the West of Scotland Rugby Club to somewhere such as Auchenhowie. If the Lower Kilmardinny/Westpark proposal gains planning permission, it is impossible to understand how Councillors could judge the Auchenhowie proposal strictly on its own merits. For this reason, at the Public Local Inquiry, the representative of Milngavie Community Council described the linkage of the two applications as "a perversion of the planning process".