Angus Council has agreed to lease land to Kirriemuir Rotary Club for the development of a community garden for the nominal rent of £1 a year.
The Rotary Club of Kirriemuir, is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year. In order to celebrate this milestone appropriately, the Rotary club is seeking to lead on a significant community project in the town.
Having considered a number of options, the club has identified an area of land to the rear of Kirriemuir Health Centre bordering the Gairie Burn.
The club, in discussion with the health centre and local community planning team, have agreed to seek to redevelop this land as a community garden, offering a peaceful and attractive environment for patients, residents and visitors to |the town.
The club has also shown interest in a small walled garden area at Rosefield Gardens that had previously been looked at for a similar project by the local community planning team.
When this project was originally set up in 2009 the head of housing confirmed the land was owned by housing and available for this type of community-led project.
The local community planning team held discussions with elected members to brief them about suggested plans for Rosefield Gardens and the intention to report on the project to the neighbourhood services committee.
The area of land identified by the Rotary club is split into three distinct parts, with two held on the housing revenue account.Ownership to be confirmedThe ownership of the third piece of ground is still to be confirmed and the Rotary club is investigating this.
However, the third piece of ground is to the extreme south-east of the site and it would be possible to focus development on those pieces of ground held on the Housing Revenue Account (HRA), if the ownership of the final site could not be determined, or agreement for its use could not be reached.
The pieces of ground held on the housing revenue account have previously been used as allotments, however, an investigation has suggested that these agreements have been terminated.
As a result, both pieces of land are currently unused and Angus Council has |no proposals for their |redevelopment.
The Rosefield Garden ground site was previously used for a children’s nursery and since closure it has become unkempt. The Rotary have indicated they would also be willing to undertake improvement work on this second site.
Similar to the first site this would be subject to a leasing arrangement or agreement between Angus Council and the club.
Director of neighbourhood services Ron Ashton said, “Leasing of the land for a nominal rental would allow Angus Council to retain overall ownership of the ground should the council require to retain the land management in the future whereas donating the land to the Rotary club may lead to problems in the future if the Rotary club or a new independent group are unable to meet ongoing maintenance requirements.”