The Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service (SCTS) has transferred the Stonehaven Sheriff Court building for a nominal sum after the Stonehaven Town Partnership (STP) successfully demonstrated the financial viability and benefit to the community of its plans.

SCTS has been working with the STP and the local community to seek a successful and sustainable transfer of the former sheriff court building.

Part of this consideration was the submission of evidence of an achievable and sustainable plan for the ongoing use of the courthouse for the benefit of the local community. This is compliant with the Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act 2015, which highlights the fact of transferring the ownership in a sustainable manner.

Richard Maconachie, chief finance officer for the SCTS, said: “We are delighted to be able to handover this important and historic building to the Partnership which will enable it to remain a vital community centred asset to Stonehaven.”

James Douglas from the Stonehaven Trust Partnership said: “Stonehaven Town Partnership is a charitable organisation that was established to promote and encourage voluntary activity within the local community of Stonehaven, and we are very happy to have acquired the court building.”

He added: “It is proposed to retain the court room in its original form as a heritage room. The building will be available for hire to groups for meetings, school debating societies and possibly TV companies for programming.”