More than 20,000 people have backed a petition to stop the proposed closure of three West Lothian swimming pools and a major arts venue - as community leaders questioned whether enough had ben done to explore alternative options.
Just days after the proposal from West Lothian Leisure to close the Broxburn pool, Xcite Armadale and Livingston and The Howden Park Centre, petitions for all sites have garnered almost 20,000 names.
A further petition to the Scottish Government has had more than 7,000 signatories.
Protests were held at a meeting of West Lothian Council’s executive committee on Tuesday as they met to discuss the plans.
And the Joint Forum of Community Councils was critical of both the council and West Lothian Leisure, and asked whether enough had been done to try cost-saving measures before closure was considered as an option.
“There does not appear to have been any attempt to find alternatives to this, or look at other sources of funding,” the Forum said..
“Take the swimming pools, what measures have been considered to make savings? For instance lowering the temperature a couple of degrees, as Edinburgh Leisure did to successfully save millions on energy costs. Or a change in the opening hours, a revision of charges, flexible memberships, corporate sponsorships or a campaign to encourage more use.
“Where is the evidence that any of these measures have been considered?”
The forum also questioned the alternative venues proposed by the leisure trust: “It is not true that people can just use other facilities instead. For instance, for the Broxburn swimming pool, as there is no longer a direct bus to Winchburgh unless you have a car it is very difficult to get there.
“Also, swimming pools located in schools like this have very restricted public access times and often no longer have the staff to man them at these times anyway.”
And they described a council plan to withdraw all main support funding as “a hammer blow,” describing it as “a ludicrous proposal that flies in the face of reality, when no other public Leisure operation in the country is self funding.”
The Forum added: “Public Leisure facilities are provided at a cost to the public purse because it is an essential service to the entire community and it saves money by improving the public health and well-being of local citizens reducing the demand on health and care services.”
At Tuesday’s meeting councillors agreed to a Labour motion calling for letters to be sent to the Scottish Government ministers seeking emergency funding.
But any hopes, on either side of the chamber, for political consensus on a way ahead appear to have been dashed from the outset.
West Lothian’s SNP group accused Labour councillors of panicking over the cuts announced to the Xcite pools and Howden Park centre and said they had warned of closures when budget proposals were tabled in February.
The party tabled an amendment at Tuesday’s meeting calling for a six month moratorium on the closure plans to establish “full and detailed assessment of the impacts of the proposed closures”.
The SNP group leader Janet Campbell told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: “West Lothian Leisure is at breaking point and the Labour-Conservative Administration are now in complete panic as what to do.
“They have wilfully had their heads buried in the sand but it is the people of West Lothian and West Lothian Leisure employees who will suffer the most. These decisions cannot continue to be made in private - we need the creation of the working group to publicly oversee the survival of West Lothian Leisure.”
Speaking after the meeting Councillor Kirsteen Sullivan, Labour group and the council deputy leader said: “We fully understand and share the concerns and disappointment felt by our local communities regarding West Lothian Leisure’s request to close four facilities.
“We had hoped for wide ranging consensus across the chamber but yet again we saw the West Lothian SNP group facing both ways at once - they have repeatedly challenged West Lothian Council’s funding to support West Lothian Leisure but are now calling for more investment, and they’ve shouted about mis-management whilst they refuse to take up the two SNP spaces on the West Lothian Leisure Board where they could bring forward their ideas and take part in decision making.
“They have also refused to acknowledge the sustained cuts to West Lothian Council’s budget by the Scottish Government yet they agreed that West Lothian Council had to make savings in reducing the management fee to West Lothian Leisure - you won’t see any of that on their Facebook page.
“It was clear today that councillors did not feel they had enough information to make an informed decision on the proposals, particularly around a historic agreement with the Scottish Arts Council.
“I was pleased that a majority of councillors agreed that West Lothian Leisure and Council officers will explore alternative options to allow for the continued provision of services whilst engaging with key community groups and alternative commercial operators. We need to be clear about the other options that may be available before any decision can be made.”
SNP Depute group leader Robert De Bold was also critical of the administration however, and said: ”The Labour-Conservative Administration have delayed the decision by a few weeks and ignored the SNP Group’s comprehensive proposals for a six month plan of action. During the meeting, when asking questions, many of the Labour members seemed incredulous and genuinely taken aback by the proposed closures.
“Depute Labour Leader, Cllr Kirsteen Sullivan, even stated that everyone was surprised by the proposals. In moving my amendment, I stated that the SNP Group had been warning of the inevitable consequences of refusing to permit West Lothian Leisure to address the budget cuts imposed by West Lothian Council.”
Ben Lamb, Chief Executive of West Lothian Leisure said: “Unfortunately, there are no easy decisions or ‘quick wins’ that will address the £2.95m gap we are facing. We have carried out exhaustive research, complex impact assessments and considered multiple options before submitting our proposal to the Council.
“In fact, some of the suggested measures have already been put in place. For example, we have lowered our pool temperatures to save energy, but for customer comfort there is a limit to how much the temperature can be reduced.
“For the venues in question, we have looked at the cost saving impact of a reduction in opening times, but unfortunately in this scenario, the high costs involved in maintaining the buildings do not change, as we still need to heat & treat our pools. In terms of increasing membership costs, we did change our pricing structure for membership, block booking & pay-per-visit users on 1April 2023, however we must stay competitive and comparable to other providers in the area.
“The scale of the financial challenge we are facing cannot be met by income growth or cost savings alone, and so the very difficult reality is that we need to significantly reduce our costs in order to survive.”
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