Local Action Fund strikes the right note
Published: Friday 25 July 2025

Plans to restore the bandstand in Hamilton’s Bothwell Road Park have been given a massive financial boost.
The council is providing £50,000 for the restoration of the historic landmark, which was originally presented as a gift to the town by John Monteath, of the Clydesdale bank, in 1912.
The funding is a result of the administration budget passed by the council earlier this year, with an additional £50,000 allocated to each of the 20 council wards. Councillors in each ward were asked to come up with proposals for how the new Local Action Fund should be spent, with final decisions being taken by the Executive Committee.
The first proposals were unanimously agreed at a meeting of the Executive Committee.
Council Leader Joe Fagan said: “The Local Action Fund is designed to help each community with projects that can have a lasting and worthwhile impact for everyone who lives there.
“Local councillors are able to gauge from their constituents where the money can be best used, and I am delighted that we already have agreement for how the money should be spent in 13 of the 20 council wards, with the others to follow in due course.
“The project to restore this much-loved and historic bandstand will benefit everyone in the local community.”
Bothwell Road Park sits within Hamilton North and East (Ward 17), for which the elected members are Councillor Colin Dewar, Councillor Martin Grant Hose and Councillor Davie McLachlan.
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