A dangerous building which has blighted part of Helensburgh town centre is set to be tackled by Argyll and Bute Council.
And public car parks in Arrochar could also be bought by the authority as part of a £2.35m investment in coastal communities.
The council’s share of Scottish Crown Estate funding is being split across its four administrative areas, with £600,000 earmarked for the two projects in Helensburgh and Lomond – although the estimated cost of both is far below that figure.
In Helensburgh it aims to find ‘a permanent solution’ for the dilapidated building at 5-7 East Clyde Street, which has repeatedly caused the main A814 through the town to be closed.
In November a report by council officials said £85,000 of public money had already been spent stabilising the building, with little prospect of recovering the cash.
But at that point demolition was ruled out because the estimated cost was £200,000.
The public car parks in Arrochar, which have been leased by the council, were put on the market last year, with offers over £150,000 invited.
A statement issued by the council today gave no detailed indication of how the money would be spent.
it said that in Arrochar the money would ‘progress buying/improving and increasing capacity of public car parks currently leased by the council, and up for sale.
The crown estate funding is intended to benefit coastal communities based on the environment, community, climate change and economic development.
Helensburgh and Lomond area committee Barbara Morgan said: “This is good news. These projects will improve day-to-day life and help increase the benefits of tourism for the area.”
So £200k + £150k = £600k! Trebles all round! Meanwhile, no cash to open the toilets in Kilcreggan so people will be peeing next to the car park again this summer.
Spot on about the toilets. Nothing will be spent on anything any where that requires employees with overalls. We will need more managers to oversee the services we do not have.
I wrote about the unsafe building last time. What was the point in proppping up a dilapidated building that is always going to fall down in the end.
Parking in Arrochar is another nonsense. Maybe I’m not reading this correctly: Are the car parks up for sale by the council? I think they collect the parking charges at the moment. Meanwhile the council will spend money enlarging and improving them. Will they then still be sold to some shyster that will bump up the prices beyond the ludicrous level that they are already. The new owner might take on a contractor job for the council, at minimal cost, patrolling the streets of Arrochar issuing tickets to those that park on the new yellow lines, all the better to boost car park income. Surely not.
Hi Dougie, the council currently leases the car parks