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On Thursday 2nd March at 7.30 there will be a public meeting at the Strathmore Community Hub to discuss the future of Coupar Angus Town Hall. All welcome, tea/coffee provided.
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Thomas Glen, Chief Executive of Perth and Kinross Council has rejected a petition to save Coupar Angus Town Hall. In a letter today to the editor of Coupar Angus News & Information, Mr Glen stated: "In the case of the Town Hall, I am afraid the Council will not be in a position to re-open the building as it operated prior to closure in 2019. Before considering any option for disposal on the open market however, we are always committed to exploring any community interest in taking on ownership and management of the building." The full text of Mr Glen's letter is shown below: Dear Mr Gallagher Coupar Angus Town Hall I am writing further to your email of 15 December 2023 addressed to me and to the Leader of the Council and I apologise for the delay in responding. You ask specifically about the future of the Town Hall and I appreciate this is a key priority in your view and others who signed the Town Hall petition. I should first clarify the position on repairs expenditure. The Council approved £200,000 for essential repairs in 2021/22 (principally the heating, windows and roof) to ensure the building remains in a stable condition and does not deteriorate further. The heating and roof works have been completed at a total cost of £116,000. A price was received for the window works which was considered too expensive at that time, although we have carried out repairs to make the windows wind and watertight. Recently pressure on the Council’s buildings maintenance budgets has significantly increased. Escalating costs of building supplies and building work is a real challenge for us, in common with all local authorities, and in practical terms it means we must prioritise our spend on the key infrastructure (for example schools and local roads) which we must, by law, maintain. As you know the Council has been carrying out some wider consultation with local people and groups in Coupar Angus about the future of the town centre and I understand you have contributed to this process. Together with the community we hope to have a final Town Centre Action Plan ready by the end of March. This will be based on the outcomes of the consultation, and discussions through the Eastern Perthshire Local Action Partnership and other groups about how the Action Plan will be delivered. Some actions will be for the Council or other public service bodies to lead. Others will be for community groups to lead, with support either from the Council or other sources such as PKAVS. An important issue raised by several respondents to the consultation is the number of buildings in Coupar Angus available for communities to use. As you will know some of these buildings are not in good states of repair. Not all these buildings will be affordable in the future. Older buildings are not necessarily designed to be accessible and easy to use for today’s needs, and rising energy costs affect all of them. This will mean making choices in the future about which buildings, including the new Strathmore Hub, are best suited to deliver the activities and services which the local community wants to happen in the town. In the case of the Town Hall, I am afraid the Council will not be in a position to re-open the building as it operated prior to closure in 2019. Before considering any option for disposal on the open market however, we are always committed to exploring any community interest in taking on ownership and management of the building. For your awareness, the Council will consider its capital budget for the next 5 years at its budget meeting on 1 March and as part of this will be asking officers to consider all assets within the development of a Corporate Assets Management Plan to be brought back to Council later this year. This plan will set out what assets we have, need and the implications for existing and potential new assets over the coming years. Where there is a need to disinvest in assets we shall work with communities to discuss and mitigate any impact as well as the potential for any community asset transfers to be developed. Fiona Robertson and David Stokoe in the Communities team are happy to discuss this with you further. There are examples elsewhere in Perth and Kinross where this has happened successfully, and there are some grant sources available to support such a community initiative. Yours sincerely Thomas Glen Chief Executive Spring Fair, an event by Ladybird and Leaf Sunday 5th March 2023, 11am-4pm Red House Hotel, Station Road, Coupar Angus, Perthshire, PH13 9AL Come along and browse a fantastic range of locally produced items and artwork. On 2 weeks before Mother's Day, it's the perfect chance to pick up a locally made gift! Free entry · Indoors · Free parking Food and drinks available to order from the restaurant. Any questions please contact hello@ladybirdandleaf.co.uk Further details on their Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/events/562085985933739 Vendors so far... Ladybird and Leaf Fenwick Candles Gingersnap Creations Art By Marianne Diana King Jewellery The Aura Collection Koha Barefoot Bubbles ACE Events and Crafts Coupar Angus Primary School Parent Council Ritch Pickings Mabel's Bakery Rock & Thistle Coco & Clay Earrings The Gael Crafts by Lyn Little Pinata Craft Studio MGGems The Lone Stag Glitzy Goose Creations An Invitation to
GOSPEL SERVICES being held in the STRATHMORE CYCLE HUB, COUPAR ANGUS Every Sunday 6.30-7.30pm All interested are welcome Conducted by R. Kerr and J. Simpson Coupar Angus residents are invited to join us for a Cuppa, Cake and Chat at Kettins Community Hub,
2-4pm on first Thursday of each month. Bingo Tea & Raffle
at the Red House Hotel Coupar Angus Friday 24th February 2023 Eyes Down 7.30pm Books £7 In aid of Scottish Huntingtons Tayside Branch & Tayside Kidney patients COUPAR ANGUS ACTION PLAN Have your say DROP-IN SESSIONS WHEN 1- 5 Friday 20th January 10 -1 Saturday 21st January WHERE Strathmore Community Hub Trades Lane, Coupar Angus See results from the community consultation and survey. Share your views on actions that could be taken to enhance Coupar Angus in the future. Speak to the team developing the Action Plan from Iconic Consulting. Officers from Perth & Kinross Council will also be in attendance. If you have any questions, please contact Ian Clark at Iconic Consulting: 0131 627 0070 or ian@iconic-consulting.co.uk Godfrey Talbot Born in Wigan Lancashire in 1945 GODFREY TALBOT began painting in the early 1960’s. Sixty years later, he continues to create works in his unique “muscular” style. For several decades he worked as Arts Officer and Curator at the Turnpike Gallery in Greater Manchester carrying on the fine work of Tony Knipe, a gifted artist and administrator. GODFREY developed the Turnpike into a favoured venue for many of the U.K.’s premier contemporary artists and sculptors. Amongst the hundred or so artists were such worldwide icons as Henry Moore, L.S. Lowry, Bridget Riley, Sir Howard Hodgkin, Boyd & Evans, Richard Hamilton, Michael Craig-Martin and Scottish artists Ian Hamilton Finlay and Eduardo Paolozzi. Health issues eventually led to his retirement. Moving to Scotland some 17 years ago, he picked up the brushes once more, and worked daily on a large variety of projects. His current small exhibition, Bethink Yourself, at the CASCADE INSTITUTE in Coupar Angus represents the first of a series of rolling exhibitions opening on Tuesday 2nd January 2023, 11am-2pm (with a preview with wine and nibbles on the previous evening). Godfrey has work in private collections in Lancashire, Wales and Scotland. He is represented in several Picture Loan Schemes. Our beautiful Town Hall, aka Victoria Hall, has suffered decades of neglect at the hands of Perth and Kinross Council. For example despite repeated requests, the windows have not been painted for 40 years, so they are now completely rotten and many will need replaced. We all know the old saying "A stitch in time saves nine". Apparently Perth and Kinross Council doesn't know about that one, and now estimates the cost of repairing the windows at £65,000. A formal complaint about this was upheld. On 8th July 2022 Perth and Kinross Council stated in a letter to John Swinney that it had set aside £200,000 for essential maintenance to Coupar Angus Town Hall, and that the building would reopen in December 2022. However, just 5 months later the Council stated (again in a letter addressed to John Swinney) that after spending £116,000, mostly on a new heating system in the Hall, it was reviewing the future of the Hall - see letter. It went on to say: "The future of the Town Hall is something PKC will be considering carefully as part of our wider Property Assets review and our need to consolidate our estate and reduce costs given the pressures we face." Shortly afterwards, local SNP councillor Jack Welch stated: "Part of this review will assess cost of repairs and upgrade work needed, running costs, requirement to decarbonise and suitability as a building for continued Community use. Perth & Kinross Council is facing huge pressure to cut costs and ensure we deliver our statutory and priority services hence why this review is taking place." It seems clear that the SNP administration wants to rid itself of the building to save money. A lack of money? In recent years the Council has spent a great deal on vanity projects, mainly focused on Perth. For example turning the City Hall into a new museum is costing £26 million. The Council has also just approved an additional £32.5 million for the Cross Tay Road Link. In 2017 it committed £12 million to decorative lighting for Perth City (a petition against this attracted 1460 signatures). The Council regularly spends huge amounts on the Christmas lights switch-ons (£217,000 in 2016). So the question is, if Perth and Kinross Council can produce vast sums at the drop of a hat for its vanity projects in Perth, why can it not afford basic maintenance of buildings in towns like Coupar Angus? Besides, if they pledged £200,000 to repairs but only spent £116,000, WHAT HAPPENED TO THE OTHER £84,000??? Petition Coupar Angus News + Information invites you to sign a petition addressed to Thomas Glen (Chief Executive Officer of Perth & Kinross Council) and SNP Council leader Grant Laing, calling on them to give their backing to repairing and reopening Coupar Angus Town Hall, and running it properly with a new caretaker. You can sign the petition here. |
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