Wednesday September 3rd 2025
Town Hall that has lain empty 35 years in Dirleton Castle's gardens
Written by Local Democracy Reporter, Marie Sharp
A community has been given the go ahead to tear down a village hall once ownership is passed to them after arguing it had become an eyesore.
Dirleton Community Association asked East Lothian Council for permission to demolish the hall, which is currently owned by the local authority, with plans to replace it with community storage units in the future.
The group argued the hall, which has lain empty for 35 years, and lies beyond the walls of medieval Dirleton Castle’s gardens, was ‘unsightly’ and had a ‘detrimental impact’ on visitors to the bowling club which lies next to it.
It said replacing the hall with storage units would create a community store which could be used for everything from summer sports events to winter planning by providing a central space to keep vital supplies.
In their statement to planners, the association said two community events had been held – one in 2017 and one last year – to discuss the future of the hall.
It said as well as providing storage for gazebos and furniture used for fetes, galas and other events the community also needed space to store its Christmas lights and bags of grit and snow shovels as part of its winter resilience plans to help clear roads while waiting for council vehicles to reach the village.
It added “The primary school has no playing field at the school, and has to use the main village green for its sports day and outdoor sports activities.
“Having to transport football goals and other sports equipment up and down the hill on every occasion is obviously a major constraint. The village hall site is located very close to the main green, and a community store at that location could be used by the school for storing sports equipment.”
Planners approved an application to demolish the building. The association said that while it remained in council ownership an agreement had been made to transfer it to the community “subject to planning approval and successful grant applications”.
A separate planning application is underway seeking approval for two storage units to be placed on the site of the demolished hall to create the new store.
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