Council-owned flats in a Perthshire town will be sold at auction - despite calls for them to be used to house displaced Ukrainians.
Opposition councillors called for the vacant B-listed building to help the refugee family members of Ukrainians living locally - as more than 800,000 flood out of the country under assault from Russia.
Perth and Kinross Council’s property sub-committee sealed the building’s fate on Monday, February 28.
Cumberland Barracks - formerly known as Yeomanry Barracks - were built in Coupar Angus between 1745 and 1766.
The B-listed building - made of red rubble with white sandstone dressings - is currently sitting empty.
PKC has been unable to find tenants for the five one-bedroomed flats and one bedsit contained within the historic building. The last property was vacated in October 2021.
At a housing and communities committee meeting on January 24, councillors voted for Cumberland Barracks to be put to auction.
This week it went before PKC’s property sub-committee for further consideration.
A council report said since 2020 10 prospective tenants had all refused to take up an offer of a flat due to them being “too dark and small”.
The report added: “All six properties have very thick walls and small windows resulting in all flats having a dark interior which cannot be improved due to the listed status.
“The internal stairwell of the building is also dark, with hidden corners and areas, and despite being well lit, these create an unsafe appearance.”
At Monday’s meeting SNP councillor Grant Laing suggested the vacant flats be used to house Ukrainian refugees.
The Strathtay councillor said: “Perth and Kinross will obviously want to stand up and take the full share of refugees coming over and fleeing a war zone.
“I think it would be remiss of us as a local authority to dispose of this building at this time when it could be suitable for people coming across from Ukraine.”
PKC’s depute director of communities Clare Mailer said: “The council has a very good pro-active, supportive and welcoming response. I would absolutely assure you that would continue to be the case.
“We heavily utilise the private sector and work very very closely with private sector landlords in terms of any kind of response and that would obviously continue to be the case.”
Council officers described maintenance of the historic building as “challenging and costly”. PKC recently spent £127,000 replacing the coping stones and re-coating the building’s exterior.
Cllr Laing tabled an amendment to defer selling the building. He cited the following reasons: it was the wrong time to sell; the Ukrainian crisis; PKC losing control over the building, and concern the cost of renovation would be prohibitive to any prospective purchaser.
Blairgowrie and Glens SNP councillor Tom McEwan seconded and said: “I’m aware there’s a Ukrainian populace within Coupar Angus and they are obviously worried about their families back in Ukraine. I do think this building would provide some capacity for the council to do its great work it does with refugees.”
Conservative convener Murray Lyle - who moved the motion to sell the building at auction - thanked councillors for their “heartfelt comments supporting our Ukrainian friends”.
He said PKC had an “excellent record” of accommodating refugees within Perth and Kinross communities.
Councillors voted to auction Cumberland Barracks by four votes to three.
