Cove Burgh Hall Management Committee
In recent years the future of the Cove Burgh Hall has been the cause of much concern of both local residents and the local Authorities.
After 1975 Dumbarton District Council administered the Hall. Over the years, however, insufficient attention was given to proper building maintenance. There was also a steady reduction in usage as people's social habits changed and the Hall failed to keep up to date with community needs. These and other factors combined to reduce the Hall's financial viability
When Argyll and Bute Council took responsibility for the Hall after the boundary change in 1996 it quickly became apparent that drastic measures were needed. It was estimated that cost of repair amounted to £170,000, money that was not available for this sort of project. The easiest and cheapest solution was therefore to close the Hall. This proposal met with much local protest. For more than a year a local group lobbied the Council to fulfil their proper responsibilities: i.e. to properly maintain the Hall (now a Category B Listed Building) and effectively administer it as a public facility. The Council, however, stuck to their policy of closure, the only possible alternative being that ownership and responsibility for the Hall should be transferred to a group within the Cove and Kilcreggan community. This came to a head at a public meeting held at The Burgh Hall on 11th February 2000. Given the Council's hard line a small committee of local residents was hastily formed to take ownership of the Hall rather than to see it close. Start-up finances. (£50,000 seed corn over two years) were promised to make the project viable.
Since that meeting the Burgh Hall Management Committee has met on a regular monthly basis to progress all aspects pertaining to its business plan.
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