A plan by administration councillors in Edinburgh to temporarily re-purpose a care home which has been empty for more than a year has been rejected over fears it would never be returned to its original use.
Drumbrae, a 60-bed council-owned facility, is now likely to remain vacant for at least another year whilst a wide-ranging strategic review of care needs in the capital is undertaken.
The home, which opened in 2013, has been at the centre of a scandal after plans for the NHS to take it over as a complex care centre were abandoned due to refurbishment costs, which were estimated at £300,000 in 2021 but have since risen to an eye-watering £10 million.
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It's future will now be decided following the strategic review which will "identify all the bed requirements for older people across hospital and community settings".
One councillor labelled the situation "a disgrace" whilst trade union Unison urged the council to "put the last few years of mismanagement behind us".
The saga which saw Drumbrae decommissioned as a residential care home in preparation for the botched NHS takeover has sparked anger across the city , with the home having laid completely empty in the midst of a social care crisis.
On Tuesday (June 20) the council's Labour administration, backed by the Liberal Democrats, called for alternative 'meanwhile uses' for the building to be explored so it is utilised in some way until the future direction is known.
This could "support wider challenges faced by the council," Labour said.
Speaking at the finance and resources committee, convener Councillor Mandy Watt said it could be "some years" before a decision is taken about the care home.
"Is it best value to have a building sitting indefinitely empty, potentially deteriorating further so that it's going to take longer to bring back into use?" she said.
"At the very least we owe it to citizens and everybody involved to at least consider if there is another viable meanwhile use.
"What I'm trying to do is meet the expectation of people that we try to get best value for the council from council assets, council properties, not leaving them empty, not leaving them deteriorating, not needing constant security to stop there being vandalism or accidents like burst pipes and infestations of vermin."
The move was blocked by the SNP, Greens and Conservatives however, who raised concerns that any temporary change of use would jeopardise it being turned back into a care facility again.
Euan Hyslop, SNP, said: "Our priority is to protect social care beds in the city for the residents of Edinburgh. We're opposed to going down the route of finding an interim use because as has been highlighted once that process has began we will have lost those beds for good - it's not going to come back into a care home use."
The Green's Alex Staniforth said due to the council's difficult financial position he feared the costs of returning Drumbrae back to its original purpose could not be met.
Fellow Green councillor Alys Mumford added: "We know from experience that once something leaves the care sector it's very difficult to bring it back into use as a care facility. We don't want the building sitting empty but we don't think the answer to that is to move it away from the care service sector."
Urging members to support the administration, Cllr Lewis Younie, Lib Dems, said: "A building lying empty that's owned by the council is a real embarrassment and a real source of frustration for the community and for people who could be making use of that facility whose lives could be improved by it."
But The Conservatives' Jo Mowat said she was "very nervous" about a temporary use going ahead.
She added: "Drumbrae is a disgrace - how this has been handled is completely unedifying for anyone who is involved in the council.
"It's shocking, actually.
"What we don't have is the most vulnerable people being cared for."
