The Administration's decision to include the closure of Ravenscraig Recreation Centre in our budget savings proposals yesterday has met with some criticism.
The closure of the Centre was put forward as an option by Officers and Inverclyde Leisure, who manage leisure facilities on the Council's behalf, on the basis that they consider the centre to be under used and in need of significant investment, which cannot be justified given the current usage levels.
The Administration could have found the money to keep the Centre open by introducing a charge for swimming for Inverclyde school children and over 60s, as the SNP proposed. We decided against this as we felt that the free swimming policy benefits a far larger number of people across Inverclyde.
Following representations from users of the Centre and Larkfield, Branchton and Braeside Community Council I gave an undertaking at yesterday's Council meeting that we would look again to see if we can find a way to keep the Centre open, subject of course to the condition that an alternative saving or additional income would require to be identified.
The scheduled closure date is 31 March 2014. Today I asked the Chief Executive to have a detailed report prepared, which will allow the Administration to make a more considered decision on it future.
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