Calls to sell Elgin Community Centre ASAP
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Calls have been made to sell Elgin Community Centre as soon as possible.
The centre will close on March 31, although a childcare provider will continue to operate within the building after that date.
In addition, some groups are set to be temporarily housed there while the nearby Elgin Town Hall closes for redevelopment at some point in the future.
At a meeting of the full council yesterday some elected members wanted the centre to be put on the market immediately.
Marc Macrae (Fochabers/Lhanbryde, Conservative) said: "I understood, given the financial situation of the council, that the community centre would be marketed for sale. There are a number of interested parties."
John Cowe (Heldon and Laich, Independent) questioned the value of keeping the centre open for another 18 months.
He said: "Like councillor Macrae, I’m aware there is interest in the building.
"Given the financial situation with Moray Council, why can’t Elgin Town Hall move to another venue – perhaps St Giles’ Church – so this building can be sold?"
Rhona Gunn, the council's deputy chief executive, stated that VIP Childcare still uses the community centre as no suitable alternative accommodation has been found.
She added that the council has statutory duties to provide early learning services.
Also, it had been decided last June that groups would move into the community centre while the town hall is redeveloped as part of the wider plans to create a 'cultural quarter' in Elgin.
Mr Macrae claimed the situation had moved on since that decision was taken in June.
He added that hanging on to the centre was "financially incompetent", and the council would be "shooting itself in the foot" if an opportunity to sell the community centre was lost.
Graham Leadbitter (Elgin South, SNP) stated that extensive discussions had been held with various organisations involved with the move from the town hall.
He said: "They have been speaking to the council in good faith. To undermine that is not a good look for the council at all."
Cllrs Macrae and Cowe were keen to have a vote at yesterday's meeting on whether the centre should be put on the market in April.
However chief executive Roddy Burns reassured the pair that the issue would be looked at again and information would be brought back to councillors.
The meeting heard that the council has 47 empty buildings across Moray, including the Keith tourist information office which stands across the road from the war memorial and has been unoccupied since 2004.
Mr Burns also agreed for a report to be prepared regarding whether all or a selection of these buildings could be sold or disposed of in some other way.
The local authority has to make £13.4 million of savings within the next financial year.
A design team was appointed in November to redevelop Elgin Town Hall, which was built during the 1960s.
That work is part of the £31.6million cultural quarter project.
This, is turn, is part of the Moray growth deal, which is largely funded by the Scottish and UK governments.
