UIG residents are being urged to make a decision on the future of Baile na Cille Church and return their ballot papers before October 15.
After months of discussing the plans, the community are now being given the opportunity to decide whether or not the group, Urras Bhaile na Cille should pursue the project on behalf of the residents, to convert the 19th church into a multi use facili
ty.
Current owners, the Church of Scotland Trustees, are keen to sell the church on the open market, however the community are hoping to use the right to buy legislation to bring it forward.
An evaluation of the building has now been completed by consultants CKD Galbraith, who were appointed by the Scottish Government, has outlined that the building maybe more suited to the community use than for housing.
Anna Mackinnon from Urras Bhaile na Cille said: "They found that because of the structure which was to a design by Thomas Telford in 1828 and constructed exclusively for use as a church and the limitations imposed by the B-listing of both the building and the pulpit in its own right, conversion to a domestic dwelling would be prohibitively expensive and also very difficult to achieve."
She added: "They say the housing market in the Highlands & Islands is based on buildings sold for use as houses and that a 'difficult' building such as this is not in the top price range. They also took the downturn in the market plus the credit crunch into account and that the site no longer enjoys the privacy it had before new houses were built in the immediate vicinity. All very realistic."
Explaining that they were now awaiting the results of the ballot, she said: "We now also have a date for the community ballot, which will be postal with the deadline for returning voting papers to the Council Offices on Wednesday October 15, at 2pm. All the paper work has been prepared by Urras Bhaile na Cille, forwarded to the Returning Officer for processing and Uig voters should have received their ballot papers. The count will be held in Uig Community Centre on Thursday October 16, at 2pm and will be open to the public who are cordially invited to attend by Urras Bhaile na Cille."
Residents are now being urged to return their ballot papers as the percentage of the population who return their papers as well as the final number in favour will determine the next stage of the process.
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