Council submits plan to replace Damacre Centre with housing

BRECHIN: Scheme could play part in local authority’s ambition to deliver 400 new homes

Ambitious plans to knock down an Angus community centre and replace it with affordable homes have taken a step closer.

In January, news emerged of Angus Council’s plans to knock down Brechin’s Damacre Centre in the hope of making better use of the site.

The authority has now officially submitted plans to replace the centre, which closed early last year, with 10 low-cost homes.

The venue was closed following the opening of Brechin’s new £26 million community campus, which incorporated a new high school.

At the time, residents and user groups were unhappy with the loss of the busy centre and a petition was launched to retain it.

The new campus has proven a busy

“The council will work with partners to ensure good, quality affordable housing is delivered on such sites. COMMITTEE REPORT

and popular venue and Angus Council property chiefs are keen to transform the site, which has a market value of around £100,000.

The Brechin scheme could play a small part in meeting the authority’s projections that around 400 new homes could be delivered over the lifetime of its 2017-22 Strategic Housing Investment Plan to alleviate the shortage of affordable housing across the district.

A committee report said: “A crucial element in helping to deliver the target is having land in the appropriate location, where development costs are affordable and achievable.

“The council will work with partners to ensure good, quality affordable housing is delivered on such sites.”

Members of the local authority’s communities committee have already rubber-stamped plans to market the site and have pre-approved the construction of the homes.

In an earlier report to members, the council’s head of technical and property services, Ian Cochrane, recommended the centre should be declared surplus to requirements and cleared for the development of the two and threebedroom homes.

The Damacre proposal was previously welcomed as a “good news” story by the former chair of the council’s communities committee.

jkeith@thecourier.co.uk

Picture: Kris Miller.