Montrose councillors have thrown their full backing behind plans to finally bring the former Queen’s Close homeless hostel back into use.
On Tuesday an application to turn the listed building into a 13-bed town centre aparthotel was considered by the area’s planning committee.
And local members said they were delighted to see the proposal come forward.
They hope it will end of a saga stretching back to 2007.
A fatal fire led the council to spend more than £350,000 refurbishing Queen’s Close.
But it has never been re-occupied since.
Efforts by the authority to sell it on the open market have repeatedly fallen through.
Apartments for port and offshore industry workers
A West Lothian firm is behind the new project.
W9A wants to convert the 11 single bedsits into five serviced apartments.
Their conversion would create three two-bed, one three-bed and one four-bed apartments.
Each will have sleeping accommodation, bathroom and kitchen facilities, and living room space.
There will be a laundry room at ground level.
The firm say there is high demand for accommodation to serve the likes of Montrose port, GSK and offshore-related firms.
In 2022 Montrose SNP councillor Bill Duff labelled Queen’s Close a “disaster.”
“When the annals of Angus Council are written, the saga of Montrose homeless unit will not be one of the highlights,” he said at the time.
“I’m delighted to see this coming forward,” he said of the new bid.
“The council has spent a huge amount of money on this building.
“And for a variety of reasons it was never re-introduced as a homeless unit.
“Clearly, and I’ll choose my words carefully, the clientele for the new business I suspect will be a lot more neighbour friendly.
“There was a lot of concern when the council was re-furbishing the building from neighbours who did not want the homeless unit returning to Queen’s Close.”
‘Astronomical’ drain on cash-strapped council
Montrose Independent Tommy Stewart added: “To be honest it’s been a thorn in the side of the council for a number of years.
“The costs have been astronomical and that’s money the council can ill-afford to be haemorrhaging.
“Given the assurances of how it will be managed I’m delighted to support this, which in turn will help the local economy.”
Conservative Iain Gall added: “It’s the perfect location.
“We all know this has been a huge cloud hanging over the council for many years.
“It’s not going to be stag and hen parties running down the close.”
The committee unanimously back the conditional approval recommendation of officials.
Angus Council has not confirmed the sale price of the building. It said the deal remains subject to planning and licensing.
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