'We are not selling off the family silver'
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Cullen Community Centre is a popular venue in the town.
A “CLEAR route” for buying council-owned halls, community centres and other facilities has been tentatively welcomed in Moray.
But a warning has been sounded for local groups to ensure they are gaining an asset rather than tieing themselves to a life-long liability.
And a caution that ‘one glove doesn’t fit all’ has been made, with some communities favouring the “comfort blanket” of a long-term lease.
Introducing the Asset Transfer Strategy, depute convener Allan Wright refuted claims the council was “selling off the family silver”.
“This is a follow-up to what was in the budget package, that we would be moving towards a trust for our leisure facilities and at the same time we would also invite interest from community groups who had an idea of taking over some of the council’s current assets and running them themselves,” Councillor Wright said.
Cullen and Deskford Community Council formally registered an interest in running its Community Residential Centre amid pre-budget closure threats.
Chairman, Professor Ashley Mowat, said he still had questions, and a provisional meeting with the council is scheduled later this month.
“We need to know what the options really are. They were talking about buying only, but suddenly there is an addendum on possibly leasing,” he said.
“The council will have to go through each property individually and say what they are prepared to do, and make it quite clear what the options are. Then, we need to go back to our own community and tell them all what is on offer and see what support there is.”
Councillor Gordon McDonald, Buckie, made the call for leasing options to be included in the strategy, which “appeared to cover community asset transfer and nothing else”.
“This strategy, as far as I can see, is about the whole sale of the asset – not with any long-term peppercorn rent or anything else. Is this the only game in town? Because many community groups like the comfort blanket. They like the idea that the council is still there in the background.”
John Ferguson, community planning and development manager, said the door was open for leasing, but added communities would find it difficult to achieve funding.
“Lottery funding, for example, will not consider a funding application now unless the group can show ownership,” he said.
Councillor Wright added that leasing left responsibilty for upkeep with the council, representing a continued drain on already strained resources.
But Professor Mowat said if buy-outs are the preferred option, it could make the invitation less attractive.
“For example, nobody in their right mind would ever buy the harbours. And there are a lot of the other properties that have got so much backlog on repairs that nobody would take them on, nobody would ever buy them,” he said.
Chairman of the Joint Community Councils of Moray, Alastair Kennedy, urged local groups to “do their homework”.
“I would be very concerned about the state of some of the buildings the council own – whether they are actually assets or liabilities
“And in terms of a complete buy-out, it is very difficult to be sure that these groups would be able to sustain interest in the longer term.
“Furthermore, it is easy enough to say that if a community group buy an asset - we’ll call it an asset – that it can access funding. But not every group is going to be able to achieve funding,” he said.
Councillor Stewart Cree, Keith and Cullen, said strong arguments for sustainability must be made.
“We have a duty to safeguard communities as well as to encourage them,” he said.
“I would hope that when we are looking at that marketing part (of the business case) that that really is strong, that the work is done by the communities and those who wish to take on assets to be sure that when they are responsible for running that asset that they will be able to continue to do that and that it is sustainable.
“I have some concerns that unless we make that part absolutely clear then we will be failing in our duties to those communities, not just simply presenting them with a gift but we will present them with a liability.”
Councillor Dave Stewart cited Lossiemouth Town Hall as an example of a success story.
“The committee there has raised almost £400,000 since they have taken it on,” he said.
And chairman of the Forres Heritage Trust, John Mackenzie, said the strategy could serve to put things on a “level playing field”.
The charitable body was formed in 2010 to take over the running and management of the town’s Tolbooth, which lost its council-funding last year.
Members are currently sourcing money to carry out a feasibility study on the future of the Historic Scotland category ‘A’ listed building, which they hope to see opened up as a town centre attraction.
And while already well on the road to community management, Mr Mackenzie said the strategy could make the process easier for other groups starting out on the journey.
“We will try and use the building, but in our case the situation is quite different and the outside will be the responsibility of the government,” he said.
Councillor Barry Jarvis, Elgin City North, said the strategy was one of the most important documents to come before the committee.
“This is an exciting step towards encouraging genuine local empowerment and allows communities to directly influence their own area.
“Far from being “selling off of the family silver” as has been suggested, I would hope this strategy puts control of the family silver back where it belongs, with the communities,” he said.
Mr Kennedy said he too hoped opportunities could be harnessed for the greater good.
“A tentative welcome would sum up how I view this strategy. I do appreciate that it is very early days and I really do hope that we can have some success in this area.
“That is for two reasons – it is because it empowers communities, which it really does, and which is high up on the Government agenda.
“But also because it would take the pressure off the Moray Council, and they are in dire straits at the moment, there is no doubts about it – all councils are.
“But again, this isn’t going to be a quick fix,” he said.
