Library/museum

[vk]

The town hall in Campbeltown which alone with the Library and Christain Institute are topic of much local discussion.

[Nancie]

I don't want to pre-empt the meeting tomorrow night, but there is definitely more than a hint that there was no need for consultation. It has also been stated that people wanting to know what goes on at ABC should look up the web site.

I hope to see you at the meeting WC1 as I know you have been involved in the past with proposals for the Burnet building. We need people to come along and voice their opinions. I have been asked to pass on comments from the forum from people who are unable to attend and am happy to do that.

[WC1]

Normally you'd have to hold me back for this one Nancie, but I'll be heavily involved in the 'get-in' and technical rehearsals for Romeo and Juliet on Monday night. It'll be our first run-through with the set and ten (!) radio mikes so it could be just a tad complicated. I will PM you before the meeting with some points which I'd be grateful if you'd raise on my behalf.

[Ship called Dignity]

Nancie,

Is their a concensus of feeling from the CCC about the proposals? Or is it purely to get the publics thoughts and then decide whether to take them forward or not?

Will anyone be attending who has been involved in the decision making?

I'm really interested in this meeting too.

[Nancie]

There is no consensus among CCC as we have not fully discussed the issue. At our last meeting, Cllr McKinlay told us that it could happen - like everyone else we had heard the rumours. We told him that there should be full public consultation before any decision is taken as this is an issue which concerns a lot of people.

I appreciate why the area committee has taken this step. All public buildings are seriously underfunded and there are concerns over the future of, especially the Town Hall and Burnet building. What we are trying to establish at this meeting are the reasons why the decisions were taken and to allow people to ask questions and hopefully get some answers.

I asked Councillor Kelly to attend but he said he was not sure if he could. He said he would be speaking to the other councillors and hoped that one of the other two could come along. I have asked for confirmation but have not yet received it.

The community council was asked to hold this meeting and it will be chaired by myself and George McMillan.

[WC1]

Agreed the upkeep of major public buildings is scandalously underfunded. The Town Hall is one of Scotland's finest - it's truly a building of national importance - and has been allowed to deteriorate to a disgraceful extent. In that connection, does anyone know how many millions Argyll and Bute has stashed away in its reserves?

[hoots the scoop]

Hoots the Scoop?

How did the meeting go?

[Nancie]

There was a good turn out of people at the meeting. No councillors attended and a number of people expressed concern over this.

It was agreed to meet again in a month and to invite the councillors to attend. Letters will be written to ABC Chief Executive, the council leader and to Historic Scotland.

A minute of the meeting will be available in Kennedy's shop in Longrow and in George McMillan's and also in the library. The date of the next meeting will be posted on the forum and will again be open to all interested.

[paraffin man]

Since finding out some more about this,reading the minute of the area committee & looking at the yellow book, i have changed my opinion on this one.

If you look at the minute it quotes the committee as wanting to 'pursue the idea of', unless i am mistaken this means that they wish to look at the option & explore the idea of doing this?, from this it then goes on to describe in greater detail how this will be done. i.e forming offices in library & town hall etc. Read in to it what you will but this, to me means that they have not yet decided what to do but merely looking at options.

When you also look at it from the yellow book objective, i can also see why this is being looked at. The yellow book identifies areas of the town which require re-generation, surely siting public offices in a central location help this? With people coming to the centre of the town to the offices, i would say that they are more likely to spend money in shops close by, there is also an access issue for OAP's & disabled users, take the Dell Road office at the moment, the closest a bus can get to it is on the main road to Machrihanish. The Ring & ride service i am sure will not make it up here either, if the office was relocatedd to the bottom of the town hall, the bus & taxi rank is right outside.

The other factor here & probably the most important one, is the maintenance issue, surely if the buildings were occupied this allocates money within the repairs & maintenance budget for the upkeep? Only recently we heard the difficulty the Council had in finding money for repairs to the town hall, if this money cannot be found from other areas then surely it is more benificial to 'use it or lose it?'

I am all for retaining the buildings but i feel the prediciment the Council is in at the moment it is the only way forward under the present regime. I also feel that the Councillors are acting with the best interest of the town. In the long run this may save money on the investment with the issues raised in the yellow book which in turn could be spent on improving other items, the Council is not intending to take over the whole of the buildings but merely put them to better use, the town hall will still be available for all to use for coffee mornings, etc as it presently is.

I understand from the public meeting that all voted against the whole idea. I think the issue here is an information one( i was present at the KIWG meeting yesterday when the public meeting was announced & some people did not even know it was on) & people maybe dont know enough about the whole subject & all of the background, i dont know who is at fault & i am not going to apportion blame either. My advice would be not to jump to any conclusion unless you know the ins & outs of all the issues, yes it is annoying to think that decisions are made behind closed doors & without public consultation, what we also have to bear in mind is that we, the electorate voted these people into power to make these decisions on behalf of our community.

The other comment i wish to make on this is that the Town hall itself has been falling into disrepair for a considerable amount of time 15 -20 years? i find it strange why all of a sudden some being vocal on this were representing the people of Campbeltown during this time when this was happening, why shout now when they could have done something about it then?

Also why have people in this community got to be so negative about everything? lets find the positives for the future of our community, we have got to move forward if we want to develop what we alredy have.

I dont want this to be 'red rag to the bull' stuff but these questions need to be asked & it is a discussion after all & it is my opinion.

[kintyre 84]

Well said Paraffin Man.... could not agree more....
Its the same old story .... people jumping onto the negative band wagon...
If these buildings are not used then they will be left to decline further.

The library will make a superb area for registration purposes!

[petewick]

I agree with what you say pm, I can't speak for the Town Hall, but the Friends of Campbeltown Musuem was set up a few years ago to ensure the preservation of the museum.
The Friends managed to get a museums development officer put in place, who implemented various measures which improved the museums overall condition, if this had not been done, the museum today would not be in such excellent condition.
So there was a public concern as per the museum all those years ago, people did lobby the local authority, raised money etc until there was a satisfactory conclusion.

Petewick

[Jock Strap]

There was a good turn out of people at the meeting. No councillors attended and a number of people expressed concern over this.

It was agreed to meet again in a month and to invite the councillors to attend. Letters will be written to ABC Chief Executive, the council leader and to Historic Scotland.

A minute of the meeting will be available in Kennedy's shop in Longrow and in George McMillan's and also in the library. The date of the next meeting will be posted on the forum and will again be open to all interested.

What was the outcome of the meeting - was their a uniformed opinion on the proposals?

What will the letters to the ABC Chief Exec and historic Scotland be saying? THe community is opposed to the idea or has reservations or in fact supports the idea?

Thanks for the information so far - unfortunately I was working on Monday night so as you can appreciate not everyone can attend to hear the debate etc.

[Nancie]

The community council was asked to set up this meeting by people concerned about the lack of information. The meeting was advertised on the front of the Courier, there were 20 posters put out round the town and it was advertised on Argyll FM. As I said earlier CCC has not reached a consensus on this as we have not had time to discuss it.

This item was on the Area Committee agenda for the meeting of 25 January in the Town Hall. The agenda for the Area Committee is not displayed publicly so no one knew that this item was coming up.

There was a very good turn out at the meeting, many of them people from the Heritage Centre, the Antiquarian Society and Kintyre Civic Society and these people have every right to express their opinions and concern over the future of our finest buildings.

A previous posting referred to the Yellow Book. The recommendations of the Yellow Book include consolidation of the council's office requirements to create a 'new local headquarters building' which should be 'progressed speedily'. Yellow Book also stresses top priority should be given to securing the future of the Town Hall, the Burnet building (and the police station).

According to Yellow Book, options for consideration include Town Hall: restore and upgrade to create marriage suite and high quality function rooms; Burnet building: consider transfer of heritage centre collections to create a quality museum and art gallery; possible relocation of tourist information centre.

There are a number of options which can be considered but let's have them considered in an open and transparent way where people are not left out of the decision making process.

The consensus at the meeting was that the Town Hall and Burnet building should not be used as council offices. Perhaps if someone had been there to put the case for their use, there could have been a bit more understanding.

Nobody is 'jumping to conclusions' and any letters written will be looking for clarification and not stating opinions. Eg an important question raised at the meeting relates to disabled access. Historic Scotland refused to allow disabled access at the Burnet building. Will they now allow it for offices?

A meeting will be held on 6 March. It's important that all views are represented and that people feel they can state their opinions freely.

[wee alba]

The consensus at the meeting was that the Town Hall and Burnet building should not be used as council offices. Perhaps if someone had been there to put the case for their use, there could have been a bit more understanding.

Perhaps if people involved in organising meetings investigated why things are happening then there would be a bit more understanding? Council representatives should have been invited? The people involved in this decision are surely not taking the decision lightly - I am sure they have reviewed the matter?

So in the eyes of the people of Campbeltown what should these buildings be used for and how should they be funded? Any time I am in town the town hall appears to only be ever used for Coffee Mornings - so what is the matter with the bottom half being used as offices???? Keeps the place in order?? Instead you (the people who attended the meeting) wish to have the building lying empty and falling into disrepair?

People jumping on the band wagon as usual - reminds me of why I left...

[Ship called Dignity]

Wee Alba - perhaps you ought to get the whole background to this before you post too!

I'm still sitting on the fence about all this and listening to the debate from both sides.

what we also have to bear in mind is that we, the electorate voted these people into power to make these decisions on behalf of our community.

To a certain degree this is true but there are times when surely the Councillors know the issue is not that simple. Councillors do represent the electorate and in the case of a decision like this I would hope they would seek opinion. From the forum - and from what I hear - there is certainly alot of it! In the case of a sensitive matter like this there should be some public consultation. Get everything out in the open and hear all the opinions then the public can express an opinion. By not making any representation at a meeting (Monday) surely darkens the issue more?

As I said I am still sitting on the fence about this one. I really like the idea of the marriage room in the Burnett Building - I think that would be excellent. However, I don't like the idea of offices there and certainly don't like the idea of them in the town hall (I for one would hate to be the staff who have to work there!) So perhaps someone can clarify a few issues on why staff are being moved to these buildings - no one seems to be able to say why this is happening? Just the reasons!

On the other hand how do the members of the meeting on Monday night expect to save the buildings?

Just seeking more information to keep the debate going, that is all! [/code]