Costs are insurmoutable

A community hub in Peebles faces demotion due to a £1.8m repair bill.

Peebles Community Trust (PCT) bought the former church and ex-servicemen's club premises in 2019 for £200,000 but now faces huge costs to repair it.

It requires upgrading the electrics and installing insulation as well as getting rid of  asbestos, dry-rot and rising damp.

The building is home to the Peebles Ex-Servicemen's Pipe Band, a Men's Shed, and several other community organisations.

Michael Ireland, chair of PCT, said: "I'm not ashamed of our investment in the building, but it is sensible to draw a line in the sand."

Several options have been considered since the repair bill landed last year; including the closing up and selling of the building, handing it over to Scottish Borders Council, or creating a green space following demolition.

But the need for a hub is leading the PCT down the road of rebuilding.

If the demolition and rebuild plans win public approval, the PCT directors hope to draw up a development brief and launch an architectural design competition later this year.

Ireland added: “We have invested a lot of public money in the existing building and I know that us now wanting to demolish it may be a problem for some people.

"But without the investment we have made so far, this building would be derelict, and a real eye-sore.

"While a lot of people will have emotional ties with the building, it isn't in keeping with the area, and our proposals provide the opportunity to have a building that does befit this conservation area."