WHEN Largs Community Councillors questioned whether Moorburn House on the seafront had actually been sold I thought it was just wishful thinking.

After all, property slump or not, we all think that the knockdown price of about �350,000 for the historic council chambers on a prime piece of land to a Glasgow building company was shocking business by North Ayrshire.

NAC excused the giveaway price by saying that it needed substantial repairs and they would have to pay for its upkeep the longer they held on to it. Oh yeah?

Well, when it was taken from the town over 30 years ago as a grand old building it was in pretty good nick. I know because I used to attend Largs Town Council meetings in there. That"s right, I"m a grand old institution myself.

Any disrepair is down to the neglect of the council itself where the chiefs and their property managers want to flog the family silver to the nearest pawn shop. Thank God, Moorburn didn"t have a mortgage because it would have been taken out with an Icelandic bank.

The story became curious when we phoned NAC to ask why the big For Sale signs were still up at Moorburn and there was a rumour that the "deal" with the Clyde property company was dodgy.

At first we were told that it was probably just a case of "formalities" with, perhaps, the final legal missives of sale not signed. Someone would look into it for us.

As we approached deadline we pressed for a definitive answer. The response...'no comment.' Let me assure you, dear reader, that if the council had a sensible answer or explanation to our question they would have told us categorically.

Will the credit crunch result in Moorburn going up for sale again? Let"s hope so as long as we get a decent price for our heritage.

Meanwhile some incumbents of Moorburn, the community councillors, have gone to court over Mr Jim Perman"s claim that he loaned them about �8000 and he wants it back.

At Kilmarnock Sheriff Court this week Mr Perman - in Perry Mason mode - was about to explain why he wants the money back from his present community council colleagues who were not, apparently, party to the alleged agreement he made with previous community councillors - now hiding abroad or under rocks. It is to do with the old row about the Common Good Fund.

The case has been continued for both parties who sit together around the big table in Moorburn to call their witnesses in December.

We intend to be there to hear it.