Published: Wednesday, 20th January, 2010 4:24pm

Grim discovery halts town's regeneration

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By Rosalyn Campbell

THERE is fury after the grim discovery of four coffins at the site of a new Tesco store halted work.

The supermarket giant has angered residents by its delay in regenerating the former Linwood Shopping Centre and has now announced a further delay as a result of the 'long forgotten' vault being uncovered.

Chair of Linwood Community Council, Iain Wilson, said: "I thought everyone in Linwood knew about the crypt.

"There was a chapel of rest knocked down in the 70s to make way for Linwood Parish Church manse and hall.

The crypt is part of Linwood folklore. The remains are meant to be of Lady Speirs."

Legend has it that Lady Speirs placed a curse on the village, saying that if the church or the vault was ever disturbed, a great curse would fall on the village.

One blogger said: "When the church was demolished in the late 70s, the local car plant closed with the loss of thousands of jobs, so the first curse came - just wonder what the second shall be."

Local resident Tom Burke added: "The crypt of the Speirs family will be of no surprise to any locals. It was common knowledge even when I was 11 years old.

"In an ideal world the original church would not have been demolished, the remaining church hall and Speirs family crypt would remain as they are. The close association of the Speirs family shows that Linwood was once a thriving community.

"Perhaps the announcement of the family crypt will result in a fresh and positive look at the state of Linwood rather than the unleashing of some curse."

Local MSP Wendy Alexander blasted: "All the community have been saying for ages that there are graves on this site.

"Lady Speirs would be turning in her grave.

"Tesco should not be using an anonymous family to explain away why the town centre regeneration project has not had the green light.

"It is more than three years since Tesco promised to rebuild Linwood town centre. We are still waiting. Tesco are trying to gloss over the fact that this project has never had sign off by the Tesco board. The foot-dragging must stop.

"I have written to Tesco's chief executive in the strongest possible terms about the damage his company's delay, inaction, and broken promises are causing to my Linwood constituents."

Tesco Corporate Affairs manager, Jennifer Duncan, said: "I can only re-iterate that Tesco is fully committed to progressing with the regeneration of Linwood town centre once the issue of the remains buried there has been respectfully resolved.

"Given this situation it would be extremely insensitive for us to carry out any kind of demolition or building work."

Local Councillor Audrey Doig said: "We are looking forward to the development at Linwood, but would expect the recent crypt find to be handled with care and dignity.

"Now is not the time to indulge in attacks and blame, but find the way forward for Linwood. I am confident we can do that together."