Friends of Stonehouse Park will initially take over a 15-year lease of the property, the terms of which were agreed by Councillors at the Housing and Technical Resources Committee.

Initially repairs will be undertaken to make the property secure, wind and watertight which will allow the organisation to store all of its equipment and supplies in support of the various events that Friends of Stonehouse Park organise at the park.

The ambition is that the property will ultimately be refurbished to provide a Community Hub with kitchen/café, toilets and meeting space, and be available to other community organisations such as the Rugby Club and Scouts.

Executive Director of Housing and Technical Resources, Stephen Gibson, said: “This asset transfer will have a number of benefits for the whole of the Stonehouse community.

“Having a Community Hub will help enhance the promotion of high quality, thriving and sustainable communities.

“Friends of Stonehouse Park has an established and experienced board, stable membership and a track record of delivering successful events within the park and working well with the council’s Land Services team.

“We hope that this latest project will deliver a focal point for community activities, with a range of clubs and organisations able to take advantage of the refurbished pavilion.”

Friends of Stonehouse Park secretary, Karen Kelly, said: “We are absolutely delighted to take over the pavilion building.

“We plan to renovate the space to host our kitchen, toilets and a meeting space. Once renovated, it will be beneficial to hosting all our events.

“To have this central meeting point will allow us to streamline our events without significant set up time; having to bring equipment to the park and use gazebos for shelter and generators for power, which will in turn allow us plan and host more regular events bringing our community together.

“To have a accessible toilet space again in our beautiful park will make the park a more desirable destination for fun with the family, we will soon be able to host more adhoc events when the sun is shining and the park is busy, and we can just roll up a shutter and be event ready.”

Planning consent will be required for a change of use for the pavilion.