Buckie bank could be transformed by bold project into bustling community hub
A closed bank building could be granted a new lease of life thanks to bold plans by a community group.
The Bank of Scotland’s Buckie branch closed its doors for the final time at the beginning of August and looked set to become yet another boarded up façade on the town’s main street.
However, Findochty and Buckie Development Trust (FABDT) could be in line to breathe new life into the empty ground floor premises by transforming it into a bustling community hub. If successful, the plans would see the existing Buckie Community Hub - currently based just along the road - move in and vastly expand the already wide range of services they offer to the local community.
FABDT chair Susan Chalmers said that the project has been inspired by needs flagged up by the local community.
She said: “Over the last few years, the Buckie Locality Plan has been consulting with the community, and there's been lots of issues that have been coming up through that which having a multi-purpose community hub might solve.
“Things like nowhere for the teenagers to go, so a youth café is one idea. No meeting places for community groups is another, now that we can't get access to the Phoenix Centre.
“Also, we need somewhere, like the current Hub, that we can meet together and provide information, advice and guidance. So we're needing to try and extend the life of the current Hub, and also add in all of the other things the community have said that they wanted. We're now looking to see if we can find somewhere in the town that we could bring everything together into a multi-purpose community hub.”
Around a dozen buildings in town were initially identified as possible targets, with the former bank coming out top of the list. Funding was obtained for a scoping report on the project.
Ms Chalmers continued: “It’s in a central location, it’s a big building, it's on several floors with the flat at the top; if we could acquire that, that's potential income to keep the lights on for the rest of it.
“Using the ground floor and the first floor, both of which should be available for purchase, then that would allow us to do quite a lot of the activities that we want to have.
“We have been working with Anna Rogers, who's the Moray Town Centre's Partnership Manager. She has been in contact with the Bank of Scotland to see when it might be available and what the purchase price is likely to be. We've been told that it’s offers in the region of £120,000 for the bank, but we know that the middle flat is for lease at the moment through Shepherds, so we've got a rough price for that one. We have spoken to Scottish Land Fund initially to see if there's a chance of applying for stage one Land Fund money.
“Being able to purchase it seems to be realistic, but there's big bucks, as always.”
She went on to note that should the project progress, FABDT would have to be “beefed up” with extra expertise.
In addition to the purchase price, the trust would have to find the cost of the necessary renovations and equipment, bringing the total bill to somewhere in the region of £300-400,000.
Community input is vital for the success of the initiative, Ms Chalmers stressed.
She continued: “We also want to make sure that the community is on board.
“One of the big asks s that the people in the community let us know whether or not they're interested. As well as responding directly, we're going to be doing a survey locally and some more consultation to say ‘This is a possibility, do you want us to go for it?’.”
Should the venture prove successful, the end result would benefit wide sections of the community.
Ms Chalmers added: “It will give security to the current Hub provision, which is only safe until the end of this year.
“We've got grant funding until the end of December, and maybe a few months longer than that, so we need to secure the safety of that, because there's no sign of the need for it disappearing.
“In fact, if the poverty statistics for Moray are real, then we're in a bad way here. It's a bad picture just now.
“It [the bank] will give us a space that can be used by other organisations, so the idea of a youth café would be real. There should be space, hopefully, for childcare.
“There's some groups I know are looking for that provision, so that's an option. The idea would be we would have one or more meeting rooms and some small interview rooms.
“There would also be outreach provision with some of the public sector organisations. For people who currently have to go to Elgin, they may be able to access the provision in town, which would be a big thing.
“It depends on what the community wants and what the agencies are willing to do. The initial conversations we've had with all the public sector agencies are that they would be happy to use the premises if we get it.
“It really could revitalise community provision in the centre of Buckie as well, do the people of Buckie actually want to see yet another empty shop front?”
The Hub is the brainchild of Buckie Area Forum, with the group’s chair, Gordon McDonald, keen to stress the volunteer aspect of how it is run.
He said: “The current Hub has got about 30 unpaid volunteers.
“We would hope that many of them would also help facilitate the work that needs to be done to create the community Hub and. hopefully, the new project would attract more volunteers to the cause.
“The Community Hub is a completely apolitical organisation which relies totally on volunteers to do what we do.”
Mr McDonald added that had the volunteer’s efforts over the past two years been rewarded financially in line with the Real Living Wage, the bill would have come to around £80,000.
Anyone who would like more information and to have their say on the plans can email chair@fabdt.co.uk or pop into the Hub at 17, East Church Street on a Monday or Friday. More information on the Hub’s opening times and services can be found on the group’s Facebook page.
FABDT was formed at the start of last year and is entirely run by local volunteers.
For more information about the development trust, visit the group’s Facebook page.
