We are delighted to announce that the Stonehaven Tolbooth Association (STA) are now in a position to start the second phase of our attempt to create an extension to the museum. The first stage was drawing up plans and then seeking planning permission and listed building consent. This all came to fruition in December 2017 and since then we have had extensive discussions with various bodies on the next steps.

It was decided that STA required professional help in creating a sound and robust business case with a large amount of community engagement. In turn this would lead to a solid application to various funding bodies. We were fortunate to receive a 75% grant from the European Marine Fisheries Fund (via NESFLAG) and a 10% grant from Stonehaven Heritage Society. With these grants (STA is contributing 15%) we have managed to engage Ergadia Museum and Heritage Consultancy to act on our behalf. Ergadia will seek opinions and suggestions from a wide range of individuals and stakeholders and we envisage that their contract will last until Decemebr 2019 when we should know whether we have been successful in obtaining sufficient funding to permit the capital build to start.

Please come along to any of the public meetings organised by Ergadia because your comments are important in framing the final applications to organisations such as the Heritage Lottery Fund.

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