Badminton academy to take over East Kilbride community centre

dailyrecord.co.uk:

South Lanarkshire councillors have given the go-ahead to lease Stewartfield Community Centre to a badminton academy.Badminton Academy Social Enterprise (BASE) which is run by badminton medallist Kirsty Gilmour will lease the East Kilbride facility for the next five years.This comes as councillors approved the plans for the £2000 per year lease at the Housing and Technical Resources committee this week (August 30).The Lanarkshire Live app is available to download now.

Get all the news from your area – as well as features, entertainment, sport and the latest on Lanarkshire’s recovery from the coronavirus pandemic – straight to your fingertips, 24/7.The free download features the latest breaking news and exclusive stories, and allows you to customise your page to the sections that matter most to you.Head to the App Store and never miss a beat in Lanarkshire - iOS - Android The move has been met with criticism from local groups who use the facility, but a condition of the lease is to allow continued use of the smaller hall in the centre for a maximum of nine hours per week to allow for continued use of local services.The project aims to create a badminton academy and a base for the sport within Lanarkshire and beyond.The main sports hall in Stewartfield Community Centre will become exclusively for badminton use and the smaller hall will be available for a wide range of community activity.Local councillor Kirsty Williams (East Kilbride West) welcomed the plans for keeping the community centre open.She said: “Obviously we’re facing significant funding gap issues and as a councillor for this ward, I think this proposal allows this resource to remain available to the community, the risks have been mitigated for existing users,