First for Oban as Rockfield Centre launches share scheme

A COMMUNITY share scheme will be launched this summer to help turn Oban’s old Rockfield Primary School into a £3m community hub.

Last month Oban Communities Trust received a £420,000 grant towards its goal and it is hoped the share scheme will take the project to the finishing line.

Director Graham MacQueen told Oban Community Council on Monday: ‘What is happening behind those closed doors is very exciting. We are making huge inroads. This is exactly what we propose the Rockfield Centre will be for: the community.

‘Around December this year we hope the building work will start. We have the bulk of the funding in place.’

Chairman Gordon McNab said the trust’s status has been changed to a Community Benefit Society, or ‘Bencom’, so it can now raise money by selling community shares.

‘Planning permission has been approved,’ he said. ‘The project is £3m. We have two thirds of that. The last push is offering community shares in the building. It is a new concept in Oban. We are testing the waters.’

The trust was encouraged by a similar share offer in the smaller town of Strontian which raised £800,000 and the recent successful Dalavich hydro scheme.

Interest would be paid on every share, depending on the centre’s income. Each share costs £50, with a minimum buy-in of five shares at £250, to a maximum of 2,000 shares worth £100,000.

Mr McNab said they hoped to start the share scheme in the middle of June and start building before the end of the year.