Published: Wednesday, 14th July, 2010 9:30am

Bodies will be exhumed

Comments (1) | Print | Email

Supermarket giant Tesco has been given approval to exhume 19th Century human remains found in Linwood — leaving the site ready for development.

A judge granted Tesco an order allowing the firm to open a burial vault at the former parish church and remove the corpses, which would then be cremated and reintered.

The bodies — believed to be from a family called Speir — were found in lead-lined coffins.

Now a local councillor is calling on Tesco's bosses to act quickly and demolish the derelict church.

The firm's plans to knock down Linwood's shopping centre and build a supermarket, community halls, library, health centre and shops were put on hold when the vault was uncovered in an old church hall.

At the Court of Session in Edinburgh, Stephen Govier, counsel for Tesco, said a forensic pathologist who had inspected the site said the remains would be in an advanced state of decomposition and possibly reduced to skeletons.

He told the court that it was Tesco beleived only one of the Speir family members buried there married and had children.

The company then identified 17 of their descendants and asked what their wishes were.

Mr Govier said the plan was to reinter the remains following cremation at Whitekirk Churchyard in East Lothian, where more recent generations of the family have been laid to rest.

He said: "Because of a certain shortage of space at that churchyard there would be difficulties in a burial, as opposed to a cremation and then interment of the ashes."

Lord Brodie said he was satisfied that authority should be given to open up the vault and reinter the remains.

Local councillor Anne Hall said: "I'm happy obviously about the progress that's been made but you've seen the shopping centre — the condition is getting worse.

"I've had a lot of complaints about vermin and I've personally seen dead pigeons on the site.

"I know they've boarded up the windows which were becoming dangerous. I would like to know if they can demolish the centre at the earliest opportunity because that would solve a lot of the issues regarding the anti social behaviour.

"I would ask Tesco to move on and sort it as quickly as possible."

A spokesman for Tesco said: "We have recently carried out work to further secure the units and we have instructed a pest control firm to deal with any pest issues on the site.

"We are continuing to work closely with the family to ensure that the final part of the process is in accordance with their wishes."