A LEADING engineering consultant admitted last night that major

hurdles had to be overcome before a new multi-million super stadium

could be built for Celtic Football Club at Cambuslang.

Mr Brian Veitch, managing director of Ove Arup, which is involved in

the #45m development, revealed that the land was riddled with old mine

workings as well as suffering serious ground contamination.

His disclosure was made during a public meeting organised by

Cambuslang Community Council to allow the club to outline its ambitious

proposals to site a new 52,000 capacity international events stadium in

the area.

The consultant, whose company has been involved in similar

developments throughout the world, told the packed meeting that further

investigations were planned to measure levels of contamination

previously dumped on the site. The indications, he said, were that the

contamination was not highly toxic.

However, he urged the public, who had information surrounding previous

work on the land, to come forward and share this. Mr Veitch explained

that maps detailing some of the old mineshafts had been obtained,

although it was feared that not all were known.

Despite this, he remained confident that any difficulties could be

overcome without any serious risk to the public. ''There are safe and

well tried ways of dealing with contamination,'' Mr Veitch explained.

Mr Kevin Kelly, the chairman of Celtic FC, who missed his club's

Scottish Cup replay against Clyde to attend the meeting, told the

audience that the development would provide a major jobs boost for the

area with approximately 2100 new jobs.

But one resident argued that the quality of life in the Cambuslang

area would suffer seriously as a result of the project. He feared that

the area was being sacrificed for the benefit of Glasgow, and that

property prices would fall.

Mr Alastair Hamilton, vice-chairman of Cambuslang Community Council,

explained that the meeting had been arranged after a number of requests

from local organisations and individuals concerning the plans, which

have been lodged with Glasgow District Council.