Offloaded centre will not close
Published 5 Nov 2012 11:30
Share this
A COMMUNITY centre and an old school are among prime sites in Barrhead set to be offloaded by council chiefs, it has emerged.
Dalmeny Community Centre, used by the likes of martial arts and dance groups as well as for meetings, is among eight sites East Renfrewshire Council wants to dispose of.
The lease of the Barnes Street centre has been earmarked for handover to an unnamed community group, while the recently-closed Auchenback Primary School is to be sold off if an alternative use cannot be found for it.
Other sites approved for disposal by the council's cabinet last week include the former psychological services building in Burnbank Drive that was previously Arthurlie Nursery, and the old tax office on Lowndes Street as well as adjoining office buildings.
The remaining four are the Arthurlie parks depot in Burnbank, where the council stores the likes of grass-cutting machinery, vacant land on Darnley Road that is earmarked for housing, an old garage site on Fenwick Drive, and empty land on Glennifer View in Neilston.
Councillor Danny Devlin stressed the community centre\\u2019s future was not in doubt, saying: \"I can guarantee that no matter what, that centre will not be shutting down.
\"The council invested around £200,000 in bringing the Dalmeny community hall up to modern standards, and it is still a well used and well-loved community asset.
\"This hall is used for so many different things, from sport and dance groups to community events and we hope that once new management is in place a minimal amount of people will be affected.
\"We don't want to see this centre closed and it won't close.\"
The building will also continue to be used as a polling station under new management and the council will continue to manage the centre until a deal is reached.
The former Arthurlie Nursery building may also be considered for lease to community groups and projects, however, the site will be sold if there is no interest.
A spokeswoman for East Renfrewshire Council said: \"The council can confirm that a community group has expressed an interest but until the entire consultation process is complete and all community groups have had adequate time to consider their options and ample opportunity to express any interest, as per our Asset Disposal Framework agreed at council last September, we will only make an announcement once we have completed the full process and have a successful candidate to declare.
\"With regard to Auchenbach Primary School there are no specific internal council uses currently being considered. If any specific ideas were to be raised it would go out to consultation as a matter of course.\"
This article appeared in Barrhead News 05 Nov 12
Return to the main index, get more from this section or browse our News archives.
