Affordable homes plan green-lit to revive community

Aplan to build flats on the site of a former community centre has been signed off by Perth and Kinross Council.

Fairfield Neighbourhood Centre in Perth closed its doors for the last time at the end of September 2018 after being labelled unsafe by the local authority.

The council-run building had suffered irremediable structural damage and was condemned to be demolished the following year by Coatbridge firm Reigart Contracts as part of a £32,000 deal.

Proposals to build 18 flats over three storeys on the ground were submitted in September.

This week, planners gave the blueprints the nod of approval under delegated powers.

Hadden Group is expected to get to work on the affordable homes in the near future.

The flats, designed by Edinburgh company ADP Architecture, aim to mirror existing structural style and will be have a shared courtyard, private gardens, solar panels, parking and bike storage.

In their planning documentation, developers said they hope the project will help regenerate the neighbourhood.

A statement read: “In 2012, six out of the 175 areas within Perth and Kinross appeared within the 15% most deprived data zones in Scotland. This included the Fairfield area.

“As identified within the local housing strategy, to help create communities where people want to live and work, we need to make sure communities are able to thrive.

“A way to achieve this is through regeneration of areas experiencing higher levels of deprivation or inequality and the environment.”

Located on the corner of Fairfield Avenue and McLeod Court, the centre had been a meeting place for pensioner groups for more than two decades and was also used as a polling place.

At the time, centre users were decanted to the National Christian Outreach Centre on Riggs Road, almost a mile away.

Perth and Kinross Council had discovered the serious faults when it carried out a review of its buildings’ structural soundness following the collapse of a wall in Liberton High School, Edinburgh.

Meanwhile, more affordable housing could be on the way soon as plans for a development nearly six miles away in Methven were also formally unveiled this week.

GS Brown launched the scheme for 24 affordable homes near Lynedoch Road on the edge of its Hayfield Brae development.

Create communities where people want to live

VISION: An architect’s impression of the proposed flats development at the former Fairfield Neighbourhood Centre.