Scottish Water Junction Closures at the Broomburn Shops

That the Parliament expresses serious concern about the decision of Scottish Water to proceed with a programme of work at Mearns Road that will involve junction closures at the location of popular local businesses in Newton Mearns during the festive period; understands that, as part of a project from Scottish Water to install a new water main, the organisation has chosen to commence a rolling programme of work on 4 December 2023, and that this will involve the closure of the two main routes for accessing the car park at the rear of the Broomburn Shops, where a range of small local businesses are based; considers that the decision of Scottish Water to shut off the two main junctions and access routes for proceeding along to the car park at the busy Christmas trading period is highly likely to have a significant detrimental impact on the local businesses, and discourage people from visiting; understands that the proposed junction closures will make it more challenging for people to access the Broomburn Shops by car, and particularly for individuals arriving from Clarkston, who would have to navigate a convoluted route to reach the car park; believes that, when evaluating the impact of COVID-19 measures on high streets and town centres and the restrictions placed on the ability of small and independent retailers to trade, however necessary they may have been during the pandemic, all publicly-owned bodies in Scotland should take care not to arrange potentially disruptive work programmes at times when, it believes, they may cause the most damage for local businesses; regrets that, to date, there are no obvious signs of Scottish Water seeking to initiate a proper review of the scheduling of the work, and considers that the handling of the matter by the publicly-owned water company constitutes a highly dissatisfactory approach from a public body; regrets that Scottish Water's programme of work will commence just two days after Small Business Saturday on 2 December, and at a period when it considers it is vitally important to take actions that will assist and not hinder local businesses; believes that, should the work to put in place a new water main have to take place, the project must be rescheduled, and calls on Scottish Water to alter the timing of the activity on Mearns Road so that it commences on a date after the busy Christmas trading period.