ARGYLL and Bute Council must decide the future of Kilmory Home Farm, the historic farm steading which lies alongside the council’s main offices.
Sarah MacKinnon of the Strathclyde Building Preservation Trust presented members of the Mid Argyll, Kintyre and the Islands Area committee with a list of possible alternatives alongside presentation at last Wednesday’s meeting.
‘The site does have a future,’ she told members, suggesting that they should look at community use and also look at making the old buildings wind and watertight to prevent further decay.
‘If the council doesn’t spend £30,000 on such measures it will have to take the roof off; its own health and safety officers are worried about the structure.
For £3.3M the courtyard of buildings could be saved, renovated and given a community use Sarah suggested, saying that this type of project is ‘very fashionable’ right now and grants could be found from a wide number of organisations, including European cash and Bit Lottery funds working with the trust and the Kilmory Home Farm community Project.
Councillor Rory Colville remained unconvinced: ‘I could point to 25 such steadings in Mid Argyll and Kintyre, what makes these so important?’
The answer is nothing, but their location and ability to be used by the community.
‘It is a good example of a courtyard steading and there is the opportunity to conserve this one and show what all were like,’ said Sarah.
Paul Convery, planning and development officer, warned the councillors that ‘the grounds and garden at Kilmory were falling into a state of disrepair as much as the buildings are’.
