Hope remains for Clock Lodge youth arts centre
There is still hope a youth arts centre can open in Lochgilphead’s Clock Lodge, despite the building’s owner changing plans for a retail site next door.
Under the terms of purchase from Argyll and Bute Council, agricultural supplier Harbro Ltd made the Clock Lodge wind and watertight in 2016 with a view to building a new country store on land beside the lodge – moving from its existing site in Kilmory Industrial Estate.
Uncertainty around Brexit, then the Covid-19 pandemic, led to delays in the project before the firm made the decision this year to abandon the idea in favour of new premises nearby.
Part of the deal in purchasing the lodge was to offer a lease to the Lochgilphead Phoenix Project – a voluntary group supporting the town’s social and economic advancement.
Phoenix Project trustees set about securing funding in 2017 for the full restoration of the Clock Lodge, with electrical and water supplies to be delivered by Harbro as part of the country store development. Working with Tarbert-based Templar Arts and Leisure Centre (TALC), they had plans to develop the Clock Lodge as a youth arts base and sourced funding for conservation architects to develop the proposals.
The four-year-long period of uncertainty over Harbro’s country store meant funding for the Clock Lodge restoration could not be secured, according to Phoenix Project secretary Malcolm Sinclair.
Harbro’s decision to move to a different site also has a ‘material impact’ on the restoration aim and establishment of a youth arts centre, said Mr Sinclair. He added: ‘The Phoenix Project and our friends at TALC, while clearly disappointed with the complications these latest developments bring, do not intend to abandon the hope of a thriving community asset in a much-loved listed building.
Harbro has advised it is still committed to the building and has instructed its agent to proceed with water main connection to the Clock Lodge site.’
Chris Baxter, managing director of Harbro Limited, said: ‘The past few years have proven very difficult and frustrating for all concerned on the project. Notwithstanding Covid, the Brexit impact on our business is still uncertain.
‘As part of our long-term commitment to the area, Harbro Country Store will be relocating to larger premises at the Kilmory Industrial Estate roundabout. We supported the recent plans proposed by the Phoenix Project, but which never came to fruition. It is our hope work on the water main will help the trust obtain further funding.’