Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

£20m maintenance headache for Angus Council

The Cross in Forfar is one of the buildings presenting the council with problems.
The Cross in Forfar is one of the buildings presenting the council with problems.

Angus Council is facing a £20 million battle to bring its ageing and dilapidated buildings up to scratch.

The soaring planned maintenance bill includes more than £13m for schools across the county.

The local authority is attempting to tackle the problem by selling off some buildings which have been deemed surplus to requirements.

However, some – such as The Cross in Forfar, which requires £376,000 of repairs — have failed to spark interest among buyers, leading to fears they will soon cost more than their value to maintain.

The council recently launched a blueprint for the future of education, which would replace many of its ageing school buildings, but it is depending on external cash from the Scottish Government and will need that to build new schools.

SNP group leader councillor Lynne Devine expressed concern at the figures.

She said she would be examining them closely and seeking talks with senior officers to find out how the situation will be addressed.

The maintenance bill was revealed following a Courier investigation.

Arbroath sports centre needs more than £590,000, while Montrose Academy requires more than £2 million.

Brechin Library is in need of more than £148,000, while the historic Inglis Memorial Hall in Edzell will require £91,000.

In Carnoustie, the beach and leisure centre will require £174,000, and it will take £368,000 to maintain Arbroath’s burgh yard.

Carnoustie Independent Councillor Brian Boyd said: “I think there are a couple of things to bear in mind here.

“The first is that these repairs have not occurred overnight, they will have built up over a period of years, and the second thing is that in some cases, these are often Victorian buildings with extremely high maintenance costs that are extremely difficult to meet in these challenging financial times.

“The fact is that some of these buildings are simply surplus to requirements, and I welcome the fact that the administration has recognised this.”

An Angus Council spokesperson said: “The planned maintenance programme for our buildings is part of the council’s asset management planning and informs our future works programme.

“All future programmes are subject to funding and are discussed as items business for the council’s policy and budget strategy group and budget setting process.

“We are currently investing significant funds in the provision of new schools for Angus as a matter of high priority.”

John O’Connell, chief executive of Taxpayers Alliance said Angus taxpayers would be deeply disappointed that the maintenance bill had been allowed to climb so high.

“Those who pay council tax expect results with their hard-earned money,” he said.

“So this backlog, especially those which affect schools, needs to be addressed as soon as possible.”