An offer of £201,750 has emerged as Montrose Port Authority’s bid for a former town bowling club site.
The figure was revealed by Angus Council as part of a community consultation on the sale of the Inch Pavilion and bowling green.
The two-month consultation is required by law since it is a common good asset.
But the possible sale has already sparked a row among town councillors.
And the port bid is understood to be around £75,000 below the top offer the council received after the site was put on the open market.
Renewable energy facility
The port authority plan to use the land to build offices and units to support new bases for the operation and maintenance of offshore renewable energy projects.
Shipping firm Rix also previously revealed its interest in the site.
It confirmed a combined £355,000 offer for the Inch site and the empty Queen’s Close homeless hostel in Montrose town centre.
Last month, Angus policy committee councillors approved the port authority as the preferred bidder.
Officials said that although theirs was not the top offer, it represented what was considered “best value” for the council.
The port authority was selected after a weighting exercise on factors including the proposed use of the site.
Because of sensitive commercial information, the decision was taken in private.
However, town opposition councillors refused to take part in the debate after a move to have the matter brought into the public domain.
But locals will now have a chance to make their views known under the Community Empowerment Act process.
Engage Angus consultation
The proposal is set out on the Engage Angus section of the council’s website.
You can access the consultation here.
It includes the public papers which went before elected members.
Anyone wishing to make a representation must do so in writing and include their name and address.
All comments will be made publicly available.
The consultation runs until January 15 next year.
It is being held under the same legislation which led the authority into a belated public consultation on the future of Forfar’s former Lochside leisure centre in 2021.
A landmark civil court action declared the site as common good, before the centre was eventually demolished last year.
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