The Municipal Buildings and Town Hall and associated site forms part of the common good of the former burgh of Falkirk and when considering the disposal of common good land, including demolition or sale, certain legal requirements must be followed. This includes carrying out a statutory consultation with the local community under Part 8 of the Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act 2015 and if required, seeking approval from the Court under S.75 of the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973.
Due to the age of the Municipal Buildings and reaching the end of its economic life and being no longer being fit for purpose, a previous Council decision agreed to its closure and decommissioning.
The statutory consultation was undertaken to obtain the public's opinions in relation to 2 questions: the partial demolition of the Municipal Buildings and subsequent grassing over of the site and secondly, whether the whole or part of the site should be sold, depending on the proposed new location of the new HQ and Arts Facility. Comments were also invited.
In total, 130 responses were received for both questions with 78 comments. In respect of the partial demolition and grassing over of the site, 107 respondents agreed and 23 disagreed. This equated to 82.31% in favour of the demolition and grassing over. With regard to the sale of the site of the MB, in whole or in part, depending on the location of the proposed new Council facilities, 81 respondents agreed and 49 disagreed. This equated to 62.31% in favour of the sale of the whole or part of the site.
The responses to the Consultation were approved by Falkirk Council at its meeting on 8 December 2021, enabling progress of the partial demolition of the Municipal Building. In addition, it was agreed that the site could be sold without seeking approval from Court; however a final decision is still to be made on the location of the new HQ and the impact that this may have on the land available at the Municipal Buildings and Town Hall site.
The full list of all response can be viewed below:
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Appendix 2b - Responses on Common Good Consultation
XLSX file, 37.5 KB