Historic Court House to re-open

KINGUSSIE is set to be given a new lease of life, with a £2.1 million renovation of the historic old court house building on the High Street.

Highland Council plans to move the majority of its staff currently based in the town there and space is also to be provided in the building for the Kingussie Business Forum to market and promote the Badenoch capital.

The plans have been widely welcomed by local people who wanted the historic old building brought back into use.

The building in the centre of the town was closed to the public seven years ago because of safety fears caused by widespread dry rot.

In its latter days it was used to house the Badenoch and Strathspey District Court as well as local Highland Council meetings.

Community leaders hope the development is just the start of projects to improve the town including the redevelopment of the old Highland Folk Museum site of Am Fasgadh and the launch of the Town Trail.

Funding for the revamp will come from the council’s capital programme. Negotiations and design issues are now moving forward toward the planning application stage.

A Highland Council spokesman was reluctant to give too many details but said: "We can confirm that there was a briefing given to elected councillors on Monday regarding progress on plans to refurbish Kingussie Court House."

Badenoch and Strathspey Highland Councillor Gregor Rimell (Lib Dem) said: "I hope this brings joy to so many members of Kingussie community, past and present, for whom this has been a prime aspiration.

"It is a major step forward for the townscape and securing jobs".

Fellow councillor Dave Fallows (SNP) agreed, saying: "This is one of the key ambitions to rejuvenate the town after the loss of both the court house itself, and the Folk Museum.

"A mix of long term council use and the active involvement of the business forum will ensure that the building remains central to the Kingussie townscape.

"The community can now move forward with confidence to re-invigorating the folk museum buildings as well."

Councillor Jaci Douglas (Independent) said it was very good news for Kingussie and was the result of hard work by the community and councillors working in partnership to achieve the right outcome for the court house.

Former Highland Councillor and ex-town provost Tommy Wade, along with other people from Kingussie, has been keen for the building to come back into public use.

He said: "This is fantastic news, the court house is such a wonderful building and it was awful to see it just sitting there deteriorating.

"I hope the plans go ahead as soon as possible. It’s good that the business forum is getting space too.

"Having lost the museum through neglect there was a danger the court house was going to go the same way."

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