Loanhead police station plan scrapped as costs soar

PLANS to turn a former police station into homeless flats have been scrapped amid growing concern at the soaring cost.

Loanhead Police Station

Midlothian Council bought Loanhead Police Station for £210,000 with a view to converting it into temporary accommodation for seven tenants.

However, councillors brought the plans to a halt after they were told the original estimate for the work had nearly doubled from £350,000 to more than £600,000.

At a meeting in August, they delayed approving the work and ordered officers to bring a report to their next meeting setting out their options.

And this week, councillors voted to put the building up for sale and look for housing on the private market instead.

Councillors were presented with four options which saw the cost going even higher.

Option one, to refurbish the police station to create seven-bed accommodation, was now being quoted at more than £881,000; options two and three both involved demolishing the building and building new accommodation and took the cost to over £1m

The fourth option was to dispose of the building by putting it back on the market.

Councillor Russell Imrie led the call to sell the building, asking fellow councillors to back his motion to dispose of the site and “utilise the money in purchasing from private sellers”.

During a virtual meeting of the council, Mr Imrie said: “We can get a pretty good deal at the moment with private sales. I believe this is a real opportunity.”

The council this week agreed unanimously to put the building up for sale and use the funds to buy from the private market.

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