HELENSBURGH residents have been urged to air their views on the proposed use of the town’s Waterfront site, as a consultation enters its final week.
Argyll and Bute Council is conducting a survey on the proposal to site a supermarket, three smaller retail units, a skatepark and additional car parking in the area in front of the leisure centre.
But the convener of the town’s community council claimed that the proceeds from the sale of the land cannot be used to fund the existing leisure centre – and must be put into a common good fund for the town.
Helensburgh, unlike a lot of major towns in Argyll and Bute, has no common good fund meetings held by the council. A council spokesperson told the Local Democracy Reporting Service there are currently no plans to set one up.
The consultation will close on the council’s website at midday on Monday, August 10. A public meeting, attracting a huge turnout, was held in the town on Thursday, July 30.
Among those in attendance were Councillors Maurice Corry (Conservative, Lomond North), Fiona Howard (Labour, Helensburgh Central) and Paul Kennedy (Liberal Democrat, Helensburgh and Lomond South).
However, council chief executive Pippa Milne, and Councillor Ross Moreland (Liberal Democrat, Dunoon), the authority’s policy lead for business, sent apologies after being invited.
Community council convener Dr Peter Brown opened the meeting by saying: “The council wants to sell the land to a supermarket developer. We know that the community is strongly against that because of the 5,000 signatures we obtained in our petition last year.
“It is vital to respond to the council’s current consultation, as they will only consider responses to their current consultation when deciding whether to sell the land.
“At the time when we raised the petition we thought, but did not know, that it was common good. In fact, the council says it is due to legal advice that they are treating it as common good.
“If this happens to the land, which has been used for nearly 200 years for the benefit of the community, will be in private hands and will be built on to obscure the view that is one of Helensburgh’s unique selling points.
“The council claim this is the last piece of a jigsaw, but that is not correct. The community were not informed that this land was common good when the Local Development Plan was proposed and approved, and have never consented to the change of use.
“The Local Development Plan also does not include a supermarket. It says it is medium-sized retail units because the community rejected the proposed plan for a supermarket in 2011.
“If this land was sold by the council then the revenue generated would not go into the council’s general fund. It could not be used to pay for the existing leisure centre. It would have to go into a common good fund for the benefit of the local community.”
An Argyll and Bute Council spokesperson said: “This kind of development has been considered and agreed through different routes, including two local development plans and the specific Waterfront Masterplan along with a marketing exercise and community engagement prior to selecting a preferred bidder for the Waterfront site.
“The proposal would secure scarce investment that could create local jobs, help keep local customer spend in Helensburgh, and make further private sector investment in the town possible.
“It would bring retail and leisure services together, in a site accessible by public transport, and in addition to that would help deliver facilities already on the Waterfront, so reducing budget risk to other vital council services that people and businesses in the town rely on.
“The proposal would deliver a skatepark, car parking and limit commercial units to single-storey. We understand that proposals such as this one can bring differing views. No decision has been taken at this stage on the sale of the site and the background above along with the consultation responses will assist the council to decide how to proceed.
“We welcome hearing the full range of views and thank everyone who has already responded to our consultation.
“There are no current proposals to establish a common good fund.”
The consultation is available on argyll-bute.gov.uk until midday on Monday, August 10.
