Full steam ahead for refurbishment work at Linlithgow's Low Port Centre

The centre has been transferred from West Lothian Council to St John’s Church through community asset transfer, which involves the transfer of a property asset from the council to a voluntary or community organisation.

Heather Begarnie, LPC Trustees chairwoman , collected the keys from West Lothian Council.

She said: “We first viewed th e Low Port Centre in December 2020 and there are times when we wondered if this day would ever come.

“Many people have worked very hard over these years and it is now amazing to have the keys and the opportunity to bring the Low Port Centre alive again. Thank you to West Lothian Council for all they have done to support this project and make the building compliant.”

It is now ‘full steam ahead’ with phase one of the refurbishment work and a team of volunteers, as well as contractors, will be working to refurbish the main hall ready for use in the coming weeks.

Volunteers working on the refurbishment are primarily from St John’s Church, which has been instrumental in getting the project to this stage.

St John’s Church will also be using Low Port Centre for services and office space. It is anticipated the centre will be re-opened for community groups in the next couple of months .

Rooms will soon be available for community groups and businesses to use on an hourly basis.

However, refurbishment work will be carried out in the next couple of months to get it ready for use.

Andy Clark, project leader, said: “We’re so excited to be starting refurbishment work at the Low Port Centre. Very soon we’ll be able to re-open and welcome community groups and businesses from across the region.”

Leader of West Lothian Council Lawrence Fitzpatrick is delighted to have been able to support the project.

He said: “This is great news for the community and we wish the LPC the best of luck in taking this project forward. The group and the council have worked in partnership to ensure that the asset transfer has the best possible chance of being successful.

“Community asset transfer provides an opportunity for third sector organisations to take on the running of local facilities and to access sources of external investment funding that is not available to council.

“We will continue to work with the team to publicise their facility.”

If you would like to enquire about hiring out space, email [email protected]. To find out more about the project, visit www.lowportcentre.org.