By Liz Fowler

ARBROATH COUNCILLORS have lodged a plea for urgent works to safeguard a historic mansion, claiming the town simply cannot afford to lose “an absolutely gorgeous building.”

The Elms in Cairnie road, a 19th century listed building, requires major structural repair to make it weathertight.

According to infrastructure services director Eric Lowson, the cost of carrying out emergency works is likely to be well into five—and possibly six—figures.

In 2004 the title of the house was transferred to a company in the British Virgin Islands, casting doubt on who actually owns it.

In August 2004 the council served an urgent works notice in an attempt to get important fabric repairs done, but no response has been forthcoming.

Since then the council has carried out two tendering exercises in a bid to find a restoring purchaser for the property as part of a compulsory purchase strategy.

In a report that went before his committee last night, Mr Lowson outlined the options open to the council.

The preferred option is to use urgent works powers under Section 49 of the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) (Scotland) Act 1997 and attempt to recover any associated expenses through the courts.

Mr Lowson said the main advantage of the urgent works notice power is that it can be used as an emergency power to halt the decay of buildings that are in danger of imminent collapse and buildings where particularly fine interiors are at risk from water penetration, fungal attack and so on.

He said, “The most obvious disadvantage is the uncertainty over recovering any costs incurred through taking direct action.

“In the case of The Elms these could be substantial because of the size of the building and the need to get access to areas of the roof to prevent further water ingress.”

In light of the considerable costs of implementing an urgent works notice and uncertainty over recovering the associated expenses, the approach taken so far had been to seek potential restoring purchasers with whom to enter into negotiations with the aim of developing a legal agreement for transfer of title.

The search for a restoring purchaser will continue because it presented the lesser financial risk.

“We should recognise we might not recover the costs so should have compulsory purchase as back-up—at the same time, we should continue to look for development partners.

“I fully expect the owner not to pay, but it leaves us with a debt we can reclaim against the value of the building,” added Councillor Alex King.

It was agreed Mr Lowson should bring back a further report to the committee, detailing the financial implications, at the earliest opportunity.