The Council’s Community and Customer Services (CCS) Committee today (17 June) agreed to approve the Business Plan for the Kirkcudbright Charter, as well as recommending to Policy and Resources Committee that the Council’s capital budget helps fund the project. The committee also agreed to endorse a Round 2 Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) application and agreed the option as recommended by the project architect.
The Charter was developed by the Kirkcudbright Community Trust and Dumfries and Galloway Council in 2012, and is designed to increase future use of community buildings in Kirkcudbright. The Charter sets out proposals to have a national Gallery of recognition within the current Town Hall building complete with a ‘very secure’ gallery space to house high value exhibits, such as the Viking Hoard that was found in the region some months ago. The revamped building will also host a café, open space area for the community to utilise and a mezzanine floor to increase exhibition capacity.
The Gallery is estimated to bring in up to 40,000 visitors per year to the town of Kirkcudbright, which will in turn bring in in excess of £1million to the region’s economy. The community of Kirkcudbright will be involved in the Charter in a variety of ways, not least by taking advantage of many volunteering opportunities available within the new Gallery.
Members of the CCS Committee also agreed to back a Round 2 HLF funding bid, with this hopefully leading to funding of £1.6million being given to the project. The committee also agreed to ask Policy and Resources committee to give funding from the Council’s capital budget programme to help support the project.
Chair of CCS Committee, Councillor Tom McAughtrie said after the meeting;
“I welcome the decision of members at the CCS Committee to push forward with plans to progress the Kirkcudbright Charter. Through working with the community, we will help build the local economy, which is a key priority for our Council. The Charter came about via a local need from the people of Kirkcudbright. This demonstrates that we are a listening Council and that we’re committed to working with communities throughout Dumfries and Galloway. I hope that Policy and Resources Committee and HLF agree to fund this worthwhile and ‘state of the art’ project, as it will ensure the town of Kirkcudbright is put firmly on the cultural map.”
The report and design plans can be viewed at; https://egenda.dumgal.gov.uk/aksdumgal/users/public/admin/kab14.pl?operation=SUBMIT&meet=12&cmte=CCS&grpid=public&arc=71
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