THE LATEST chapter in a legal battle to stop Perth and Kinross Council selling off Kinross town hall and library may soon come to a close.

The sides are close to agreement on the controversial issue.

Local people have been fighting the local authority decision to sell off the landmark buildings as “surplus to requirements.”

They have been closed since 2002 due to structural faults.

Kinross Community Council have consistently argued the buildings were gifted to the people of Kinross in perpetuity and the council has no right to sell them.

The case came up again at Perth Sheriff Court yesterday and the council’s solicitor, Garry Sutherland, said the case was “proceeding towards an amicable solution.”

A motion to stop the action, presented jointly with the community council’s lawyer, Ruth Croman, was granted by Sheriff Lindsay Foulis.

It is understood the “amicable solution” is to appoint jointly a QC to look at the matters of fact surrounding the dispute.

The two sides are close to agreeing the QC’s remit and the information gathered would then be determined in much the same way as a planning inquiry.

Central to the community council’s argument are documents which show the library was built in 1905 following an £1800 donation by the industrialist Andrew Carnegie, on land bought by the town and parish councils.

The hall, built by Kinross Market Company in 1841, was gifted to the burgh in memory of those who served in the second world war, they maintain.

The council have come under severe local pressure over their moves to sell the town hall and library and a 2375-signature petition of opposition was collected by protesters.