LOCHGILPHEAD residents have lost their long battle to save the town’s sports centre.
The building will be razed to the ground to make way for new houses as Argyll and Bute Council accepted an offer of over £1.3million from Fyne Homes for the building and Lochgilphead High School last week.
Council Leader Dick Walsh told councillors and members of the public who attended a meeting of the council’s executive committee, that failure to sell at this time would ‘almost certainly result in the sale falling through’.
The money from the sale is likely to be spent repairing other schools in the area such as Campbeltown Grammar, which was described as being in ‘dire’ condition.
Andy Law, Argyll and Bute Council Director of Operational Services, insisted it would not be feasible to keep the old sports centre because there is not enough money in the budget.
He added: ‘The sports centre was around 25 years-old and would certainly have needed a refurbishment and a new roof.’
At last Thursday’s meeting Cowal area councillor Alex McNaughton, Colintraive made one last attempt to change fellow councillor’s minds.
He told them the high profile shinty tournaments held at the old sports centre were classed as the best in Scotland and that, according to others, the new hall at Lochgilphead Joint Campus is not ‘half as good’.
The executive committee also heard that Lochgilphead has also lost badminton and athletics’ competitions in recent months. A public meeting regarding the future of the site was held in February, and locals made it clear they wanted the sports centre to stay and the school building kept for other community based uses.
Helensburgh councillor James Robb praised the campaign by residents, but said ‘the truth is, we can’t have it all.’
After hearing reports on the facilities at the new state-of-the-art school, Oban councillor Duncan McIntyre said he felt ‘disappointed’.
‘The new facility should be better than the old one, but I don’t see how this council could support an additional facility.’
Council Leader Dick Walsh urged locals to try the sporting facilities at the new joint campus, which he said was not only educational, but also for the wider community.
‘We’ve got a willing purchaser and opportunity of capital receipts and in this instance we can’t do what the public want,’ he said.
Mid Argyll councillor Alison Hay said the public want a replication of the old sports centre, and pushed Mr Law into giving assurances that improvements would be made to the bleacher seating and line markings at the new sports pitch.
One member of the Executive also said it would be unwise not to sell the site when the council is currently struggling to run libraries, swimming pools, sports halls and community centres all across Argyll and Bute.
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