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Our Town Hall sits in the heart of the community it serves, providing a perfect event and meeting space for Pitlochry residents, neighbours and visitors.

From Coffee Mornings and Highland Nights to Public Dances, Live Music and everything in between, generations have enjoyed themselves here since the Town Hall Established in 1899.

The current Pitlochry Town Hall Group would love to see the future of this wonderful building secured for future generations.

Pitlochry Town Hall was built in 1899, by Alexander Ness of Dundee. It is a 2-storey, 3-bay, piend-roofed public hall in Scottish Renaissance style with ogee-roofed polygonal tower and small conical-roofed round tower.

The Category B listed building is regarded with affection by many in the community of Pitlochry and the surrounding areas. The building comprises of a large hall at the main entrance level with a stage and balcony, a smaller hall at first floor and ancillary changing rooms at the lower ground floor level, in the former care takers house.

The building is currently owned by Perth & Kinross Council and managed by Live Active Leisure, a leisure provider for the Council.

The Town Hall is subject to the Council's recent Asset Review, along with the other public buildings in Pitlochry, including the Leisure Centre and Library.

Community Asset Transfer Process:

Pitlochry Town Hall Group (PTHG) are looking at taking on the building as a Community Asset Transfer from PKC for the benefit of the local community.

The future of Pitlochry Town Hall has been called into question following the Asset Review that PKC have recently undertaken in our local area. Current service level agreements are only in place for the current financial year. After this time, PKC are unable to pledge the allocated funding required to keep this venue open.

Pitlochry Town Hall provides a wide range of service user groups with suitable indoor space and is a key venue for community events.

The Pitlochry Town Hall Group (PTHG) has formed to support the future of this iconic community venue.

They have hosted several community engagement events to gauge commitment and gather ideas for future use of the building.

Although the Town Hall provides a vital indoor space for community use the current facilities are under-utilised and would benefit from redevelopment, improved disabled access, renovation of the rear end of the building and improved kitchen facilities.

Should the PTHG be successful in securing a Community Asset Transfer of the Town Hall they would seek additional funds to improve the infrastructure and future-proof building design and layout.

By protecting our Town Hall from the threat of imminent closure PTHG will increase community access to vital employment, volunteering, learning, culture, sport and leisure opportunities.

The Town Hall is a central hub for events within the local community and is currently utilised by a wide range of service users (these include the Highland Night group, local Scouts groups and the National Blood Transfusion Centre).

Many local people volunteer to help maintain and run the venue and there would be even more opportunities to increase participation, and possible employment should PTHG be successful in taking the Town Hall on a Community Asset Transfer.

Partner Organisations:

The PTHG Executive Committee is working with Pitlochry Community Action Trust (PCAT), the Community Ownership Support Service (COSS), the Scottish Land Fund (SLF) and Development Trust Association Scotland (DTAS) to develop a way forward towards a successful CAT. We are accessing advice and support from all these organisations and researching case studies from other communities across Scotland who have taken on community ownership of other Town Halls. We will refer to PKC’s Community Asset Transfer Scoring Matrix throughout the process to ensure a robust application is delivered. We are mapping our progress against COSS ‘12 Steps to CAT’ as a project management tool.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION