Falkirk Council agree to sell former HQ and town hall site to developer for £6.2m

The nine-acre site will be sold to BDW Trading Ltd – a subsidiary of Barratt Homes and David Wilson Homes,

Most of the cash raised from the sale of the land will be put towards the cost of building a replacement town hall and theatre in Falkirk town centre.

The former Callendar Square shopping centre – currently being demolished by Falkirk Council – has been chosen as the replacement site.

According to the report before members on Thursday the West Bridge Street site was marketed for five months and ‘multiple offers were received’.

Members agreed to the sale of the nine-acre site to BDW Trading Ltd for £6,239,417.

The price is subject to potential adjustments for “proven abnormal costs” which would be negotiated by the director of place services.

As previously agreed by councillors, £200,000 from the sale will go to Falkirk’s Common Good Fund, as the land was originally bought by the old burgh of Falkirk.

Planning permission and other statutory consents will also need to be in place before the sale is finalised.

Falkirk Town Hall closed controversially in February 2023 after councillors agreed the £6 million cost of separating the theatre building from the offices would not be value for money.

But members of the arts community were furious that the theatre was to be closed and demolished before a replacement was agreed.

Since then, the Callendar Square site has been acquired and demolition is well underway for a new theatre and civic centre that has been promised in that location.

Councillor Paul Garner said he was glad to see things progressing.

He said: “It is strange driving past and seeing the building not there.

“I’m not missing the offices as I’m sure others don’t – but I do miss the council chambers and indeed the fish pond at the old municipal buildings.”

Councillor Garner said that the disposal of the site would mean “the creation of new homes, which in turn will support the regeneration of the town centre”.

Building the new town hall, he added, “will act as a catalyst for the delivery of the council’s town centre regeneration vision”.

The Labour group leader Councillor Anne Hannah said she was looking forward to the project going ahead and Conservative group leader James Kerr was also supportive.

However, Baillie Billy Buchanan once again reiterated his opposition to the sale and to the “destruction of the municipal buildings and the town hall, which I thought was an absolute disgrace”.

Recent changes to standing orders meant Baillie Buchanan was too late to make any amendment to the proposal but he and Independent Councillor Robert Spears both voted against the decision.