A Highland Perthshire community trust is hoping it can acquire a recently closed outdoor activity centre and turn it into a new social hub for locals as well as visitors.
Members of the Rannoch Community Trust have approached Perth and Kinross Council with a proposal to take control of the former Kinloch Rannoch Outdoor Centre so it can create a place where people can meet, socialise, enjoy a drink and something to eat, freshen up and perhaps even stay the night.
The local authority opted to close the centre earlier this year. Trustees reckon the property could be repurposed to replace a meeting and mixing place lost to the village when The Stables Bar at Dunalastair Hotel closed, as well as become a place where passing tourists can take a comfort break and shower.
Speaking to the PA about the proposal last week, the trust’s secretary David Holland said such a new social hub was sorely needed, not only for locals but for tourists.
He reckons it can prove quite expensive for them to eat, drink and stay elsewhere in Kinloch Rannoch owing to it being a bit off the beaten track.
He stressed the group was only at the early stages of a possible takeover, but said PKC seem receptive to their idea so far and the trust will now move to make a formal application for a community asset transfer over the next few months.
Outlining what the area lacks at the moment, Mr Holland explained: “We don’t have a meeting space, we don’t have any public toilets or showers [and] we don’t have a tourist centre, so we’re looking at this being a base for people to come and get tourist information as well as somewhere to people to get some relatively inexpensive food and drink.
“It’s not a massive building but it’s in a fantastic location - it’s got a little waterfall next to it and it has a garden which will make a wonderful beer garden [and] we’ve got all sorts of other ideas for the kitchen such as running cooking lessons and starting a meals on wheels service.
“We’ve spoken to the council about it and they were quite receptive to us taking this further and we’re now pushing ahead to complete an application for the transfer of the outdoor centre into community hands.
“This is going to be our main focal point for the next three to six months.”
Mr Holland added the proposal was receiving a lot of support locally, saying: “We had an online poll last week and out of the 78 responses we got 90 per cent of them were in favour - to get that kind of support from a small community was absolutely fantastic.
“We also had our AGM [last Tuesday] and the vast majority of people who came along were in favour as well.”
