Packed town hall meeting hears pleas to save Bo'ness Recreation Centre

dailyrecord.co.uk:

More than 400 people packed into Bo'ness Town Hall on Tuesday evening to back a campaign that hopes to save Bo'ness Recreation Centre from closure by Falkirk Council.The astonishing turnout saw a lengthy queue of people waiting patiently to sign in, with every seat filled and many more standing in the hall.The group of campaigners who called the meeting said they wanted to gauge support for their efforts to keep 'the Rec' open. Read more: Money advice helps Falkirk residents get more than £5 million last year Robert Stuart told the meeting: "If three men and a dog had turned up there would have been no point in continuing.

But the turnout tonight is absolutely fantastic and that says it all."The rec is home to many classes, clubs and groups including a social club and a rugby club, while the gym is very well used by members of Active Forth, a rehabilitation programme used by the NHS.But Falkirk Council says that subsidising the centre at a cost of nearly £900,000 every year is simply not affordable.Mr Stuart was careful to be non-political, saying there was no point in playing "the blame game".But many of those who spoke believe that a lack of investment over decades has left the centre more vulnerable to closure than the Mariner Centre or Grangemouth leisure centre, which are also heavily subsidised.The decision to close Bo'ness Rec was made by Falkirk councillors as part of a review that selected 133 council properties for closure or transfer out of council ownership.The council is facing a £64 million budget gap and hopes getting rid of older and more expensive properties in particular will help close it, while encouraging communities to get involved.But even the council admits a facility the size of Bo'ness would