Councillors’ relief as aparthotel plan marks end of saga

Montrose councillors have thrown their full backing behind plans to finally bring the former Queen’s Close homeless hostel back into use.

Yesterday an application to turn the listed building into a 13-bed town centre aparthotel was considered by the area’s planning committee.

And local members said they were delighted to see the proposal come forward.

They hope it will mark the end of a saga stretching back to 2007.

A fatal fire led the council to spend more than £350,000 refurbishing Queen’s Close.

But it has never been reoccupied since.

Efforts by the authority to sell it on the open market have repeatedly fallen through.

A West Lothian firm is behind the new project.

W9A wants to convert the 11 single bedsits into five serviced apartments.

Their conversion would create three two-bed, one three-bed and one four-bed apartments.

Each will have sleeping accommodation, bathroom and kitchen, and living room space.

There will be a laundry room at ground level.

The firm says there is high demand for accommodation to serve the likes of Montrose Port, GSK and offshore-related firms.

In 2022 Montrose SNP councillor Bill Duff labelled Queen’s Close a “disaster”.

“When the annals of Angus Council are written, the saga of Montrose homeless unit will not be one of the highlights,” he said at the time.

“I’m delighted to see this coming forward,” he said of the new bid.

“The council has spent a huge amount of money on this building.

“And for a variety of reasons it was never reintroduced as a homeless unit.

“Clearly, and I’ll choose my words carefully, the clientele for the new business I suspect will be a lot more neighbour-friendly.

“There was a lot of concern when the council was refurbishing the building from neighbours who did not want the homeless unit returning to Queen’s Close.”

Montrose Independent

Tommy Stewart added: “To be honest, it’s been a thorn in the side of the council for a number of years.

“The costs have been astronomical and that’s money the council can illafford to be haemorrhaging.

“Given the assurances of how it will be managed I’m delighted to support this, which in turn will help the local economy.”

Conservative Iain Gall added: “It’s the perfect location.

“We all know this has been a huge cloud hanging over the council for many years.

“It’s not going to be stag and hen parties running down the close.”

The committee unanimously backed the conditional approval recommendation of officials.

TOWN: The former Queen’s Close homeless hostel in Montrose has lain empty since 2007. Picture by Kim Cessford.