£140k award secures hall bid

The sum from the Scottish Government’s £1.7 million Town Centre Communities Capital Fund (TCCCF) will be handed to Creetown Initiative Ltd in order to turn Waverley Hall into a community building.
Dumfries and Galloway Council offered the sale of the surplus property for the nominal sum of £1, but Creetown Initiative projects manager Andrew Ward said: “We said to Dumfries and Galloway Council that we would only take the building on if we secured the funds to restore it.
“We put the condition in that unless we could find the funds to bring the building up to scratch, we wouldn’t do it, because it would be pointless us taking on a building that needed considerable work doing on it.
“But now we’ve got that money.”
The total projected restoration cost is £184,000, but Mr Ward says the £140,446 from the Scottish Government now secures the project to create a community building managed by the community.
Announcing the funding, Scottish Government Social Justice Secretary Alex Neil said: “I’m delighted to be able to announce this support for community organisations across Scotland.
“The £1.7 million fund will give enterprising communities the chance to take forward improvements to their area that complement our Town Centre Action Plan.”
He added: “By giving community organisations the opportunities to take action we can help make town centres the attractive and accessible thriving places we know they can be.”