By Dave Lord

A FURIOUS row concerning the £500,000 legacy “gifted” to Auchterarder following Perthshire’s controversial staging of last year’s G8 Summit is threatening to boil over.

The Courier can reveal that confusion reigns supreme over the cash, which locals had hoped to spend on their town hall.

Almost 10 months after the meeting of world leaders was staged at Gleneagles— massively disrupting local life—not a penny has been forthcoming.

Locals are now wondering if the promised cash bonanza will ever materialise, and even local MSP Roseanna Cunningham has been left in the dark.

“The First Minister made big play last summer of his pledge of half a million pounds as a ‘post-G8 legacy’ toward the improvement of Auchterarder’s Aytoun Hall,” she said.

“The promise was welcomed and put to shame the Westminster Government, who failed to come up with anything similar.

“However, since the summer, there has been a strange silence from the Scottish Executive on the details of the promised funds.”

Ms Cunningham called on the Executive —and Perth and Kinross Council—to provide straight-forward answers.

“Members of the local community are understandably anxious as to how they might begin to access the promised money,” the MSP said.

“Despite the Aytoun Hall being in council ownership and under the management of Perth and Kinross Leisure, they do not appear to have had any contact from the First Minister’s office since last year’s announcement.

“And there is a persistent rumour that this money was not a straightforward grant, but was expected to be match funded,” Ms Cunningham continued.

“I am calling on the First Minister to confirm or deny the truth of that rumour and to make it clear to myself, Auchterarder Leisure and Recreation Association (ALRA), the local community council, and indeed Perth and Kinross Council, how the much-vaunted £500,000 is to be accessed.”

Ms Cunningham fears Mr McConnell will fail to come up with the goods. “I sincerely hope this does not turn out to be another case of Jack having empty pockets to match his empty promises,” she said.

“If the money for the Aytoun Hall does turn out to require match funding from the local council then it would be helpful if they had been able to budget for it. The financial pressures on local authorities are well known, and half-a-million pounds of unexpected expenditure cannot be easily rustled up.”

Despite the concerns—which The Courier understands are shared by ALRA and the community council—a Scottish Executive spokesman said ministers were “absolutely committed” to fund a lasting legacy to the G8 Summit.

“We have been working with the council to assess the options for refurbishing Aytoun Hall, and await their proposals,” the spokesman said.

Meanwhile, Perth and Kinross Council said it is “exploring potential options” and denied claims local authority funding had been withdrawn following announcement of the £500,000 gift.

“The council has been supportive of ALRA’s exploration and development of potential options for the Aytoun Hall to enable them to access funding from the Scottish Executive,” he said.

Nevertheless, locals appear unsure of how to take the matter forward. The issue will be explored at a meeting in the Aytoun Hall Institute at 7.30 pm tomorrow.

“There have been conflicting announcements from various sources about the £500,000 ‘gift’,” said David Homewood from ALRA.

“One rumour is that the people of Auchterarder need to raise £500,000 before the Scottish Executive releases the cash.

“There also appears to be no time-scale to the gift, and local politicians have written to the executive to see if funds could be drip fed to the ALRA so the Aytoun Hall can be refurbished,” he added.