MEMBERS of Neilston Community Council have accused Barrhead Housing Association bosses of “throwing a tantrum” over a housing bill sent to East Renfrewshire Council.

An invoice for a reported £87,000 was sent to the council for a site in Kirkstyle Lane, a project it no longer supports.

Despite being earmarked for development in late 2016, housing plans were dropped by the council last year after significant local opposition.

Investigatory work had been carried out by Barrhead Housing Association for the proposal and it is now asking the council to pay the bill for aborting the project.

The association says it has racked up “substantial” bills associated with the investigatory works on the site and that these cannot be covered by grant funding unless the housing project goes ahead.

Shirley Robison, chief executive of Barrhead Housing Association (BHA), added: “As the development proposals were originally instructed by the council for us to take forward, and then subsequently withdrawn, we are asking the council to make payment of the abortive fees. The BHA governing board does not believe our tenants’ rental income should be responsible for such abortive fees.

“The abortive fees are just short of £87,000 and we produced an invoice last November. We are awaiting a decision from the council, which has indicated such a request will be considered favourably.”

The Barrhead News understands that the majority of the fees will be covered by the council, with a vote on the issue set for next week.

Neilston Community Council members say they are concerned residents from across the council area will now have to pay the price for work done by BHA.

John Scott, chairman of the group, said: “Barrhead Housing Association seems to be throwing a bit of a tantrum over this and blaming everybody but themselves.

“When their application became public, it resulted in moe than 400 objections from Neilston residents.

“The housing association claims the invoice has been issued to protect social housing residents from an unnecessary bill. Perhaps its members would like to put their hands in their pockets and pay it off themselves, rather than expecting hard-pressed council-tax payers to foot the bill for their apparent lack of judgment.

“I would be very unhappy to see any of my council tax being used to bail out this housing development business.”

Despite being thrown out last year, Kirkstyle Lane remains a part of East Renfrewshire Council’s Strategic Housing Investment Plan that was submitted to the Government as recently as last November.

The site may now be developed for other use by the council.

A council spokesman said: “The council is in the early stages of considering the potential for developing a shared education and leisure campus in Neilston. Kirkstyle Lane is a site we are considering as part of this plan.

“We have been working closely with Barrhead Housing Association and are fully committed to agreeing the best way forward, following their own investigatory work on the site. A paper is being prepared to go to a future meeting, where this will be discussed in more detail.”