A £41,000 grant to assist with the purchase of a community hub in Helensburgh has been approved by Argyll and Bute Council.
Helensburgh Community Hall Ltd will receive the funding “to help towards the purchase of the building, and also in returning the property to a good state of repair as a community hub and wellbeing centre".
The funding will come from a recent grant received by the authority from the Scottish Government’s Town Centre Capital fund.
The council has been allocated £444,000 from the fund, which will be shared evenly through its four administrative areas.
The Scottish Land Fund recently gave the community hall group £160,000 to assist with the purchase of the Red Cross Hall on East Princes Street.
READ MORE: Joy for Helensburgh community group as £160k funding secures hall buy-out
The remaining £70,000 given to Helensburgh and Lomond will be used for shopfronts across the area to build on the ‘shop local’ initiative. Permissions would be sought and property owners would be required to contribute.
Council executive director Kirsty Flanagan said in a covering report prepared for last week's full council meeting: “Due to the immediate need to build resilience within the economy, the aim of the fund is to support construction activity within town centres.
“A key constraint of the fund is therefore the tight timeline to physically deliver capital projects within the current financial year, or at the very least, agree a signed contract for the works or be started on site by April 1, 2021.
“Consequently, it is likely that any works we can support are part of an established programme of works, potential match funding is in place if required, and staff/community resources are in place to deliver the identified capital projects.
“Projects have been chosen to support the viability of our town centres and where possible linked to either a town centre action plan that has often been taken forward through a making places initiative.
“To achieve a range of capital projects that will make a meaningful difference there is a need to make quick decisions and link where possible to established programmes of work.”
The Scottish Land Fund awarded the funding to Helensburgh Community Hall Ltd in September and a crowdfunding campaign to secure further funds is currently ongoing.
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