Nursery move would be first in Fair City
The team behind an ambitious plan to relocate Kinnoull Nursery are hoping to be one of the first in Perth to benefit from a new scheme.
The Fair City nursery is looking to cross the Dundee Road to Rio House, a former hostel which the local authority has failed to sell over the last year.
It would be next to Kinnoull Primary and nursery manager Elizabeth Scott said there is interest in cross-site work between the school and nursery.
The nursery currently operates out of Kinnoull Church Hall, meaning they must set up every morning and cannot operate in afternoons.
The council have earmarked Rio House for a community asset transfer, allowing a local group or charity to take over the building at a reasonable cost.
City centre councillor Andrew Parrott explained at a consultation on Thursday that the committee would be pioneering the community asset transfer scheme in Perth.
He told the Perthshire Advertiser: “Rio House is a former emergency housing site which the council has been looking to sell.
“The community asset transfer initiative means groups like Kinnoull Nursery can apply to take over a council building providing they have a business plan. Just now, this looks probable rather than possible.
“Community asset transfers are about making buildings of benefit to the community and Rio House seems to be tailor-made to the nursery’s ambitious plans.
“Kinnoull Nursery might not be the first community asset transfer in Perth and Kinross but it’s certainly in the first handful and I think the first in the city Kinnoull Nursery kids centre.”
A survey of the local community by the nursery committee revealed that over 80 per cent of Kinnoull, Gannochy and Bridgend residents support the plans.
The committee hope that, while the nursery will take over the ground floor of Rio House, the six rooms upstairs and outbuilding can be commissioned for use by other organisations.
Focus groups are to be held by the committee, who are also looking for anyone who can help with the move.
Email info@kinnoullchurchnursery. co.uk if you can help out.