Surprising move

Falkirk Council has been criticised for taking its leisure trust back under its control.

Falkirk Community Trust has been providing cultural, recreational, sports and library services on behalf of the council since it was established as independent charity in 2011. 

However after a review the council decided the trsut would be better off under its auspices rather than as a separate arms-length external organisation (aleo).

Community Leisure UK said it was surprised and disappointed with the decision.

It also said there would be additional costs incurred by transferring the services back in-house through the loss of rates savings amounting to £1.4m per annum. 

CLUK said: “The risk of politically motivated decisions being made with no evidence to support them, is that public services will be impacted, potentially to the detriment of local communities, with higher delivery costs and a loss of a board with expertise from the local area.

“We must ensure that our public leisure and culture meet the needs of their local communities and circumstances and are delivered in the most effective way in order to maximise their impact and outcomes.”

A statement from Falkirk Community Trust said it was "clearly disappointed in this decision at a time when we believe we should be focusing all our efforts on recovery from the pandemic". 

It said: "Despite this uncertainty, we will continue to champion and work towards our vision of communities in Falkirk becoming the most creative and active they can possibly be."

Cecil Meiklejohn, SNP leader of Falkirk Council, said: ““The decision to bring Falkirk Community Trust back in house was taken by elected members after much discussion and deliberation and we want to reassure our communities that once transferred, we will seek to continue the improvement and development of services.”