Trust hail green light for Buckie Fishermen's Hall takeover
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BUCKIE Fishermen's Hall Trust have hailed the news that their takeover bid for the premises has been given the green light.
The community asset transfer (CAT) to the Fishermen’s Hall Trust was agreed at a meeting of Moray Council corporate services committee last Tuesday.
The hall came under threat in 2018 when the council decided to offload seven halls it was responsible for as part of cost cutting measures.
While the aim was to encourage community organisations to take on the buildings, if none came forward the halls would close.
The trust submitted a CAT request in March last year, but a decision on the move was put on hold because of restrictions connected with the Covid pandemic.
Moray Council will now apply to the sheriff court for consent to transfer the property to the trust.
The news was hailed by Buckie Fishermen’s Hall Trust chairman Glen Campbell.
He said: “We’re delighted with the news, we’re getting closer and closer to finally taking over the hall.
“The only step left is to go to court to get the hall released to the trust – hopefully that’ll be done in January, so fingers crossed for that.
“The trust will run the hall for the community and do what the community wants. We’ve been taking it stage by stage; we’ve secured funding and employed a full time hall co-ordinator and also a cleaner, which has taken a huge amount of pressure off the committee and means we can now concentrate on the business side of things.
“Covid has set us back completely over the last year, we had a programme of events for 2020 which we had to cancel, but as of December 1 we’re back open again and looking to run a full programme of events for 2022.
“We did have a bit of a setback during lockdown when the floor of the main hall began bubbling up as it wasn’t being used. Fortunately, the repairs turned out to be not as big a job as we feared at first and it’s all sorted now.
“We’re looking at a business strategy and structure for the hall, including a maintenance programme and a contingency fund. We need to get the community back in and using the hall again.
“The committee has had lots of support, which we’re very grateful for, including from Tracey Rae and Dawn Brodie from Moray Council’s Community Support Unit – they’ve been fantastic – and Buckie councillor Tim Eagle, who has been with us all the way.”
Councillor Tim Eagle (Buckie, Conservative) said: "These things are not easy and this group has been incredible.
"It’s really great to see.
"If we all get behind this group it will be a great success."
Councillor Sonya Warren (Buckie, SNP) supported the move but raised some reservations.
These included a poor response to a consultation on the CAT which only received five comments.
Councillor Warren said: "I very much want to see this getting through.
"I just want to know that we as a council are doing the best we can for the group.
"I don’t want this to go through and then for the group to struggle."
Councillor Warren added she would have liked to have seen more information put forward about the trust’s plans for maintaining the building, complying with Covid safety regulations and increasing membership.
Andrew Gray, the council's asset manager co-ordinator, assured the committee that the trust’s governance and financial management arrangements were considered to be strong and sustainable.
Mr Gray added that the council’s community support unit would continue to work with the group following the transfer.
In addition, he stated that while there were not many responses to the consultation the process had been conducted properly.
The move will save the council £47,000 a year.
