Friday, September 18, 2015

Rosebank Church redevelopment abandoned - Community Council reaction - also comment from Cllr Michael Green

Brian Stewart of Nairn West Community Council told the Gurn:

"I'm sure all three Community Councils in Nairn will be disappointed at the news that the project to restore and re-use the former Rosebank Church there has been abandoned. This listed building is in a prominent position beside the main road and is a significant part of the town's heritage. For several years Nairn West CC campaigned, in collaboration with the other local community councils, for the building to be properly maintained and brought back into use. We were encouraged by our dialogue with Council officials and we welcomed the initiative by 1st Steps Childcare.

We hope the nursery succeeds in their efforts to find other premises so that they can continue to offer local childcare services. We also consider it important for the town that a suitable alternative use be found as soon as possible for the historic Rosebank Church building."

Michael Green also told the Gurn:

 ‘ Very disappointing news that First Steps have been unable to complete the re-development of the Rosebank Church. Going forward, we must give every assistance to First Steps to find alternative premises and explore all options to ensure that the work on the building is completed. What cannot be allowed to happen is for the building to once again fall into a state of disrepair’.

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

Rosebank folly!, time to tear it down and build council flats for the homeless, if we as a town can allow the old community centre to go,after all it used to be the first free kirk in Scotland and cost the common good £££££'s in the shenanigans over funding for the new, what are we going to miss tearing it down, its been an eyesore for decades and decades.

Graisg said...

Morning anon, not aware that any Common Good cash went into the new Community Centre but perhaps you have info?

Anonymous said...

another complete fiasco,another load of money wasted,surely they should have made sure sufficient funds were available to complete the project from the start.

Nothing new said...

It was not rocker science to know it was going to cost millions to renovate to A child care center plus in the opinion of most people it was not suitable for A care center being situated on A the side of A main road!

Anonymous said...

Anon
Sometimes building projects, particularly involving heritage conservation go pear-shaped. I really hope some form of "rescue" can be found.
I do know that Liz and our other Councillors will do all that can be done.

Rock on Tommy said...

Just to say that rocker science has always fascinated me so much so that I spend much of my time reading the Gurn sat in a rocking chair

dr-grigor said...

Got to say I have to agree with both Anons and nothing news comments, although I think its such a shame this wasn't properly thought out, Surely the architects and whoever else the nursery hired to over see this project wasn't paying attention, I wish them all the luck in finding new premises great site and building for a cinema !

Bookworm said...

Great site for a new Library! Don't the Council have to move anyway because of the huge rent they have to pay for the existing one?

Unknown said...

Maybe they should put a shout out to Eerie Pubs, see if they're interested in another themed pub further north.

Greg Riddle said...

Just to respond to a few points raised by anonymous commentators:
As the tenants of the completed development we had to have confidence in the building owner, a qualified architect, and his estimate of the cost of the redevelopment work. At the inception of the project, it was not possible to ascertain the condition of the existing structure or roof trusses, and whilst there was contingency built in to the budget, just about every extra cost that could have been incurred was realised. Finally, no public money was spent on this project, it was funded by the building owner.

Anonymous said...

Has Nothing New failed to notice that our main primary school is also on the main road and in cities many nurseries are located on busy roads. Millbank primary and Junior World are next to a railway. What a load of nonsense. They were probably going to build a fence!