The decision to wait until after the holidays was taken to try to avoid any closing the play park during the school break and any impact on the nearby caravan park through the holiday period.

The former leisure centre was declared surplus to requirements by the council in May 2018 following the completion of the Forfar Community Campus and was subsequently approved for demolition in February 2019.

The building appeared to have had a reprieve after a judgment in the Inner House of the Court of Session deemed the building belonging to Forfar Common Good and found that the authority had been wrong to consider knocking down the facility without public consultation.

As no applications for a community asset transfer were made for the building and no groups came forward following the council’s attempt to lease the building, the council formally consulted on the proposed demolition of the building and restoration of the area to parkland.

Angus Council then considered the responses made in the consultation and noted that no sustainable offer nor community interest has come forward. Therefore, members agreed that it should be demolished, bearing in mind it will become the financial responsibility of the Forfar Common Good.

Following a tendering process, the Policy & Resource Committee at Angus Council yesterday agreed to commit an additional £155,000 from the council’s General Reserve Fund to meet the full cost of the demolition and landscaping work.

The playpark and three of the four car parks around the leisure centre will be closed so a site compound can be established, while ensuring the safety of the public. Only the Rangers Centre car park will remain open and there are alternative play parks in town at Graham Crescent, Steele Park and Victoria Street.

The one-way access road in the area will be affected by restrictions and appropriate signage will be in place during the works. The caravan park entrance will provide access as far as the ranger base and two-way traffic on this road will be necessary for both access and exit. The road passing the tennis courts will be closed to all vehicles except site traffic.

In addition to the building’s demolition and clearance, the works include the removal of all asbestos materials and the hard landscaping that surrounds the condemned building before trees are planted and grassed areas reinstated.

It is anticipated that the playpark and parking will open again from February 2023, will landscaping of the cleared area being carried out in the spring.