AN ICONIC B listed building in Alloa is back in council hands, it has been confirmed.

Clackmannanshire Council has purchased its former headquarters Greenfield House, beginning a fresh chapter in the property's history.

The 19th century country house was bought back from developers Kapital Residential Ltd, who obtained planning permission to convert the building into sheltered housing in 2015.

As previously reported, the council confirmed the planning permission lapsed in 2019 and concerns had been repeatedly raised over the deteriorating fabric of the building over the years.

The option to purchase the building was agreed by councillors earlier in June and officers confirmed at a meeting of elected members on Thursday, August 19, that the process has concluded, following a request for an update by Cllr Kenny Earle.

Following confirmation, a spokeswoman for Clackmannanshire Council told the Advertiser: "The council has continued to monitor the condition of the house, and will now prioritise safety and security measures, ensuring the building is safeguarded in the immediate term.

"A report setting out the steps for the future redevelopment of the site will come before the council at its meeting of October 21."

At the meeting on Thursday, council leader Ellen Forson hinted at what the future may hold for the building.

She said: "Clackmannanshire Council is now, again, the owner of Greenfield House and I will certainly be pushing forward my aspirations, now that we are the owners, for it to be included in our transformation zones and, certainly, it's my ambition that it'll be centre of our City Deal programme moving forward."

As reported in June, the council agreed the development of transformation zones, starting in Alloa, as part of its "innovative" Be The Future programme.

A range of projects in these zones will aim to achieve "improved economic performance with more and better paid jobs and development opportunities as well as sustainable health and social care to improve the quality of life for all of our residents" – the council leader explained at the time.

Later at Thursday's meeting, when the meeting was discussing Cllr Forson's motion on climate change, she added: "Our innovative Be The Future transformation plan has sustainability thread through every workstream.

"Our ambition is Scotland's first wellbeing economy, underpinned by environmental sustainability, and with our City Deal, again, sustainability is at its heart.

"Scotland's International Environment Centre will be based here in Clackmannanshire and we'll build an innovative community developing the net-zero technologies and solutions for the future.

"And, as I alluded to earlier, it's my wish and the administration's wish that Greenfield House becomes the heart of this."