A Moray councillor yesterday called for the public to have their say on a “vital” community asset threatened with closure after a council blunder left it out of a budget consultation questionnaire.
Theresa Coull is campaigning along with MSP Richard Lochhead to allow the people of Keith to now give their opinion about the closure of the town’s Longmore Hall.
Residents had the chance to give their opinions on the closure of council-run town halls as part of the budget cost-cutting consultation, but the first version of the online and paper survey did not include Longmore Hall in the list of threatened facilities.
After realising the error, the council papers and surveys were updated to include the Banff Road asset and the closure was voted through at last week’s full council budget meeting.
Now Mrs Coull is now demanding that the residents of the town be given a chance to consult properly on the future of the “essential” hall.
She said: “The first thing we need to do is speak to the groups who use the hall at the moment, as there have been questions asked about what will happen to them, especially if no-one wants to take it on under a Community Asset Transfer.
“The council reckon they would save £14,000 next year by closing it, but that is not much in the grand scheme of things. It is a well-used hall. “If it was run properly, I think it could be profitable.”
MSP Richard Lochhead said it was one of the best utilised halls in the Moray region.
He said: “It would be a devastating blow to Keith and the surrounding area, if this vital facility was to close.”
Seven council-owned halls across the region have been included in the budget cuts and interested groups have until the end of June to express an interest in the town halls in Elgin, Forres, Buckie, Cullen and Findochty as well as Buckie’s Fisherman’s Hall and the Longmore Hall in Keith to keep them open.
Collectively, the buildings run at a loss of £152,000 a year.
Last night a spokeswoman for Moray Council said: “An error in the first version of our budget proposals guide and survey meant that Longmore Hall was missed from the list of halls, however this was swiftly rectified and the updated documents were made available both online and in hard copy at our access points and libraries. These included Longmore Hall for the majority of the consultation.”