Council leader's proposal to 'refresh' Falkirk town centre regeneration voted down

At a meeting of the full council earlier today members voted by 15 to 14 to continue to progress with the plans, agreed in September, to build a new council HQ at the former Westbank clinic at a cost of around £24 million and keep the current Town Hall, which will undergo a partial upgrade to improve energy efficiency.

Back in September the SNP’s proposal for a new HQ and arts centre to be built in Falkirk High Street was also defeated when it came to the vote.

At today’s meeting Council leader Cecil Meiklejohn’s defeated motion stated: “The council expresses its concern over the timescale and cost for delivery of this work, in particular its adverse effect on the council in meeting its accommodation needs and in progressing the regeneration of Falkirk town centre.

"It agrees work be undertaken to refresh the Revitalising Falkirk town centre regeneration action plan in light of the council’s decision to delivery an office and civic HQ and refurbished Town Hall.”

She said there was quite a lot of “anger and frustration” among town centre businesses over the situation and the council now had to develop an alternative plan to regenerate Falkirk town centre, to protect businesses and jobs as the council had made a commitment to do so some time ago.

"We respect the decision the council made in September – despite the fact we don’t agree with it. The decision will not give us the outcomes we wanted for town centre regeneration.”

Councillor Meiklejohn also said the decision not to pursue a new HQ in the town centre taken in September had created a “lack of confidence” in Falkirk Council and would make it difficult for the local authority when it came to trying to attract future private sector finance for projects.

"Our town centre is on a knife edge,” she added, stating a number of business had been forced to close in recent times.

Councillor Dennis Goldie, who had earlier stated the vacant M&S site in Falkirk High Street had been purchased, responded: “The town centre will refurbish itself – it’s been doing that for hundreds of years.”

Councillor John McLuckie called for Councillor Meiklejohn to step down.

He said: “We took a decision in September we weren’t going to go up to the town centre and that decision was taken by Falkirk Council. The leader of the council should get behind a decision – I feel she should step aside if she doesn’t get behind the council’s decision.”

The updated design proposals for the Westbank site are estimated to cost between £10,000 to £15,000 and the cost of keeping the Town Hall will require an updated business plan, parking study and technical information, expected to total between £75,000 and £85,000.

That’s on top of the £1.8 million already spent on the project since it began back in 2014.

Earlier in the meeting, the council agreed to proceed with the phased demolition of the existing municipal buildings and agreed the site should be sold for development and the capital receipt from the sale should go towards the cost of the replacement facilities.

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