£600,000 secured from the Coastal Communities Fund

Danny Alexander MP, Chief Secretary to the Treasury, announced the news in Rothesay today

Argyll and Bute Council’s £8million project to renovate Rothesay’s iconic Art Deco pavilion received a huge boost today with the news that £600,000 has been secured from the Coastal Communities Fund (CCF). This is the penultimate piece of a complex funding jigsaw, with the final piece, £3million from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) to be decided at their board meeting tomorrow (Tuesday 27 January).

Leader of Argyll and Bute Council, Dunoon-based Councillor Dick Walsh, who was in Rothesay for today’s announcement, said: ‘’I warmly welcome this news– it’s another boost to a project which is really gathering momentum. Hot on the heels of last week’s £750,000 from our partners in Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE), we’ve now got most of the pieces in place. We’ll have our fingers crossed for the HLF money, which we should hear about later this week.

‘’I’d like to congratulate the project team and thank them for their hard work – these funding bids can be very complex and there’s always huge competition for the money. We’ve a great track record when it comes to securing funding for regeneration projects, which is testament to the professionalism of our staff.

‘’This is a really exciting project, with the ultimate aim to restore the pavilion to its former glory, turning it into a hub for culture, tourism and sport. It’ll be fantastic for residents of Bute but also a real tourist attraction. The council is committed to delivering this project, with over £2million coming directly from our regeneration budget, and I for one cannot wait to see work get underway.’’

Dr Nick Merriman, chair of the charity who will operate the refurbished pavilion, said of the news: ‘’This is another great step towards achieving our ambition to refurbish the Pavilion as a community and cultural centre which will bring in more visitors and benefit the island. We have our fingers crossed that the Heritage Lottery Fund will announce their funding shortly.’’

The Coastal Communities Fund (CCF) aims to encourage the economic development of UK coastal communities by awarding funding to create sustainable economic growth and jobs. This, the third round of CCF funding, aims to support fully-developed projects that are able to make use of the funding before the end of 2016.

Should the HLF bid be successful the full business case for the project is expected to go before local members then the council for final approval in the coming weeks.

The pavilion is set to close in the autumn of 2015 to allow time for surveys and the removal of furniture and attachments, before construction work begins in January 2016 with a view to the newly renovated facility opening in the summer of 2017.