Falkirk Council agree to close Bo'ness Recreation Centre within three months

The final decision was made at a meeting of Falkirk Council today (Wednesday) when SNP and Conservative councillors narrowly won a vote to close the centre and look instead at ways to expand facilities into Bo’ness Academy.

Bo’ness Labour councillor David Aitchison and Independent Ann Ritchie hoped their proposal to keep the centre open and make phased repairs would win support.

Their amendment, however, was defeated by 15 votes to 13 as councillors were persuaded that spending millions to keep the centre open at a time of financial crisis for the council was not an option.

A large group of campaigners gathered with placards outside before the start of the meeting then watched the four-hour long debate from the public gallery.

The meeting opened with a deputation from an independent chartered surveyor who had reviewed the report being used by Falkirk Council to justify the closure.

The council-commissioned report had revealed serious defects that would mean a repair bill of more than £4 million and the building being shut for many months to make it safe.

But surveyor Mr Frank Fitzpatrick said that while the building definitely needs repairs and maintenance there were no major defects identified that could not be repaired.

Senior council officers, however, defended the report by Currie & Brown, saying it “was not and was never intended to be a delapidation survey”.

Community activists Robert Stuart and Dorothy Ostacchini then addressed the meeting on behalf of the Save the Rec campaign.

Mr Stuart highlighted the number of new houses being built in Bo’ness, the council tax that will bring in and the lack of facilities people moving to the area will find.

He also said they need concrete information about what will replace the rec centre.

“I think the people of Bo’ness deserve to know exactly what sport and leisure facilities will be available to them, exactly what the access times will be and how access will be controlled.

“As council tax payers, I think that is the least we are owed.”

Mrs Ostacchini criticised the “gross underfunding” of the Rec over many years and said that BRC is being used as a “cash cow” to fund community asset transfers now taking place.

Director of Place, Malcolm Bennie strongly denied this.

He said: “This is not true. If you took any of the major buildings out of it it would have a negative impact on the SPR enabling funds.

“Bo’ness is being treated the same as all wards.”

He also said a claim that the site would be sold and the capital receipt put towards the building of the new Falkirk Town Hall was “completely false”.

Ms Ostacchini added that the closure of the Rec would also the end of the councils’ rehabilitation programme, Active Forth, while pensioners were likely to be excluded if facilities were not open during the day.

But those who backed the report said that plans to invest £3 million into schools in a bid to improve community access would offer much better value.

The SNP group asked officers to bring forward a report as soon as possible looking at how to increase access to schools for the community.

The SNP councillor for Bo’ness, Stacey Devine, said she was voting for the proposal with a “heavy heart” as she acknowledged the “passion, emotion and anger” around the issue.

“The report in full, including the condition survey, casts a dark shadow over hopes to save the centre and is a really stark reminder that we as a council need to take earlier decisions to improve and invest in facilities.”

She added that they have a “duty of care to protect the public”.

“I believe the better plan is to invest in the academy rather than trying to breathe life into a facility that clearly isn’t delivering value and is costing over a million pounds in taxpayers’ money every year,” she said.

But there was no doubting the anger and disappointment from the campaigners attending who have campaigned hard to keep the centre open and say they will continue to fight for it.