Judge puts end to Craigmillar battle

A LONG-RUNNING saga over a community centre which the council wants to turn into offices has reached a conclusion - after £75,000 of taxpayers' money and a judge negotiating a compromise.

The stand-off over the Craigmillar Settlement has been going on for more than two years since the council pulled funding for the Capacity Building Project (CBP) - which has managed the building since 2002 - and tried to evict the groups that used it.

While the lease on the centre ran out on March 31, 2009, its tenants have continued to use the building despite the council's plans to turn it into social work offices.

The dispute ended up in the Court of Session as CBP attempted to get the council's decision to terminate the lease quashed.

While Court of Session judge Lord Malcolm did not choose that course of action, he did rule that some kind of community facility must be retained within the centre.

It has now been agreed that the ground floor of the building will be kept as a community centre, while the council will be able to use the other two floors as offices, as planned.

In his ruling, Lord Malcolm was sympathetic to some of the concerns raised by the CBP, including the lack of consultation and the loss of an important community facility in the area, and decided not to award costs against the project.

It is understood the city council will therefore have to foot the 75,000 bill for legal costs.

While the CBP will now need to find alternative premises, its secretary, David Walker, is pleased with the outcome.

"Obviously, the council don't want us around to be part of the future community use and want us off the premises," said Mr Walker.

"However, we managed to secure the building for future community use and that's the important thing."

He added: "Because the judge recognised that the council had dealt with this badly and hadn't done what it should have in terms of consulting with the wider community, and we had done the correct thing by bringing it to the attention of the courts, he found no costs against ourselves."

Councillor Jason Rust, economic development spokesman for the Conservatives, has been critical of the council's approach to the dispute from the beginning.

He said: "Yet more council taxpayers' money has been wasted. Lord Malcolm has already been highly critical of the council's handling of this matter and I am very concerned that, as a city, we are throwing good money after bad."

A council spokesman said: "The council is aware of the decision which rejected the majority of the petitioners' arguments.

"The petition was dismissed and the council's right to terminate the lease was upheld."