Falkirk Council: Apology to Howgate owners over council plans showing centre replaced by housing

The furious centre owners say that they were never consulted and called on council chief executive Kenneth Lawrie to ensure that the drawings referencing the shopping centre are immediately withdrawn.

In their apology the council said it takes full responsibility for what happened and the the image will be removed immediately.

A drop-in event was held in Trinity Church last Thursday, organised by 360 Architecture on behalf of the local authority.

Entitled Falkirk Town Centre: Masterplan Vision Open Day, a council social media post said “project staff will be talking through ideas, diagrams and displays of the vision for our town centre”.

However, the event, supposedly for the public, was not widely advertised and Howgate owners, Belgate (Falkirk) Ltd, said they knew nothing about it – or the apparent plans to bulldoze their building – until they received concerned messages from both their tenants and shoppers.

In a strongly worded message, they say the council’s actions were “unprofessional”, as well as “damaging and disrespectful” to the businesses in the centre and the people working there.

The statement said: “We understand that a public event took place on March 16 at Trinity Church in Falkirk outlining Falkirk Council’s Town Centre Vision. This was arranged through a firm of consultants acting on behalf of Falkirk Council and featured a number of conceptual visions of what the town centre may look like in the future.

"One of these drawings showed The Howgate Centre replaced by a residential scheme and green space.

“As sole owner of the centre, we are astonished that we were not consulted in anyway over the centre being referenced in such a manner.

“Although these are only conceptual drawings, they have understandably resulted in concerned queries from both occupiers and visitors to the centre. Such unprofessional action is potentially damaging and disrespectful especially to the many businesses within the centre and staff that are employed there.

“We have written to the chief executive of Falkirk Council today to express our concern and requesting that Falkirk Council and their advisors immediately withdraw any visuals that reference the centre from their plans. Since our purchase of the centre in July 2022 our team has worked tirelessly on renewing terms with existing tenants and focusing efforts on attracting new tenants in what are still very challenging times for retail.

"We wish to reassure both existing and future tenants along with members of the public that our intention is to continue to work hard on improving the asset and to make it a valued destination serving the Falkirk community on a long-term basis.”

The event showed several concepts of how the town centre could look in the future. Talk of improvements have been on the agenda for years, including the ill-fated arts centre and council HQ project which has now been withdrawn. Instead there are plans for a civic centre in the town.

Visuals showed several different scenarios with lots more residential use in the heart of the town, as well as pedestrian links to the new Central Transport Hub which will be based at the Grahamston Railways Station.

A council spokesperson said: “Falkirk Council would like to apologise for any concerns that have been raised because of the Falkirk Town Centre Master Planning project. By its very nature, a master plan is a long-term vision of how a place could look 20 years or more in the future, and its only purpose is to guide and consider future growth. The council is disappointed and take full responsibility for this particular scenario to have been presented in the pop-up banners for the recent public event and we will ensure that this one particular image is removed from public display.

“The council continues to support The Howgate Centre and very much welcomes their important role in sustaining retail in our Town centre and continue to value their input into the future of Falkirk. The economic development team will make contact with the owners as soon as possible to apologise and to ensure their views are incorporated into the master planning process as it develops.”