The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
Community takeover of historic mill at key stage
Planners back Benholm Mill proposals – but insist 100% of phase-one funding required
A community ownership plan to turn a historic Mearns mill into a visitor centre has won the backing of planners.
But concern has been raised over the prospect of having to get 100% of phase-one funding in place before the community asset transfer can be finalised.
Benholm Mill, near Johnshaven, is an A-listed property which dates back to the 12th Century and has doubled as a film set, including Long Rob’s mill in Lewis Grassic Gibbon’s Sunset Song.
The building shut down commercially in 1982 and was reopened as a heritage attraction in 1995 and operated by a trust alongside Aberdeenshire Council – but closed in 2014.
Earlier this year, the Mill of Benholm Enterprise group (Mobe) applied for a community asset transfer to take it over.
However, council officers were concerned about the feasibility of the group’s business plan, prompting members of the Kincardine and Mearns area committee to ask them to take another look.
Now the committee will consider the proposal tomorrow and council officers have this time agreed that “enough information has been received to allow a positive recommendation”.
Mairie Eddie, chairwoman of Mobe, said she was “delighted” by the recommendation but said the group was worried about the requirement for funding to be secured prior to asset transfer.
She said: “We’re very happy it’s now a positive recommendation, as we believe community ownership is the best way forward for the mill’s future.
“We are concerned about the prospect of having to get 100% of phaseone funding in place prior to an asset transfer being finalised, because that will be very difficult to achieve just because of the way funding works.”
Stephen Archer, infrastructure services director, said officers still wanted assurances that grant funding for the project can be secured before the asset transfer goes through.
Lindsay Watson took over the lease of Benholm Mill in 1929 and worked there until his death in 1951.
At that time, his son, Lindsay C Watson, purchased the mill and worked it commercially until 1982.
Combine harvesting had led to the kiln being in high demand for drying barley, and with the market for oatmeal declining, Mr Watson continued by producing animal feeds.
Mr Watson died in 1983 and the mill was purchased by Kincardine and Deeside District Council in 1986.
After complete restoration, it was opened as a visitor centre in 1995 before being shut down in 2014, with ownership reverting to the local authority.
Mobe is seeking to bring the mill back into full working order, with cafe facilities, events, walks and tours.
To this day, there are some in north Angus and the Mearns who view the work of Lewis Grassic Gibbon with an element of suspicion. The writer, whose birth name was James Mitchell, wrote about the communities he knew.
When his trilogy of novels was published, there were plenty who recognised themselves in the pages. Most were not flattered by what they read. Indeed some, who identified their own weaknesses with those of Mitchell’s characters, were outraged.
Mitchell’s Scots Quair trilogy of Sunset Song, Cloud Howe and Grey Granite became a 20th Century classic. To those of us in the east of Scotland, the landscapes and customs described are very familiar.
In a short career during an equally short life, Mitchell was a prodigious talent. He died in 1935, days short of his 34th birthday.
One Mearns building linked to his work is Benholm Mill, near Johnshaven, a 500-year-old structure used in the film set of Sunset Song. It opened as a tourist attraction in 1995 but closed in 2014. Now there is a community bid to reopen it as a working mill and visitor centre.
If the community succeeds, it will help to restore an important tourist attraction to the Mearns coast and provide another reminder of a great local talent. It is to be hoped the mill could work in tandem with the nearby Lewis Grassic Gibbon Centre to honour the writer’s memory.