Ambitious plans to knock down an Angus community centre and replace it with affordable homes have taken a step closer.
In January, news emerged of Angus Council’s plans to knock down Brechin’s Damacre centre in the hope of making better use of the site.
The authority has now officially submitted plans to replace the centre — which closed in early 2016 — with 10 low-cost homes.
The popular facility was closed following the opening of Brechin’s new £26million community campus, which incorporated a new high school.
At the time, locals and user groups were unhappy with the loss of the busy centre and a petition was launched to retain the facility.
The new campus has proved a busy and popular facility and Angus Council property chiefs are now keen to transform the site, which has a market value of around £100,000.
The Brechin scheme could play a small part in meeting the authority’s projections that around 400 new homes could be delivered over the lifetime of its 2017-22 Strategic Housing Investment Plan to alleviate the shortage of affordable housing across the district.
A committee report said: “A crucial element in helping to deliver the target is having land in the appropriate location, where development costs are affordable and achievable.
“The council will work with partners to ensure good, quality affordable housing is delivered on such sites.”
Members of the local authority’s communities committee have already rubber-stamped plans to market the site and have pre-approved the construction of the homes.
In an earlier report to members, the council’s head of technical and property services Ian Cochrane recommended that the centre should be declared surplus to requirements and cleared for the development of the two and three-bedroom homes.
The Damacre proposal was previously welcomed as a “good news” story by the former chair of the council’s communities committee.
