Bathgate’s Community Centre Management Committee the latest to refuse to sign up to council plans for change.
The Committee has won the agreement of community groups for its plans to hand over management of the community facilities to the council from April next year.
The current management committee which oversees lets of public space in the Bathgate partnership building on South Bridge Street had proposed its own dissolution.
In a communication to council officers and councillors, Donald Stavert from the management committee said: “You have left us with no option but to reject the only option you offered us.”
He added: “We have explained our decision to our members, user groups, elected members, residents of Bathgate and the Community Council.
“An Emergency General Meeting of the Association accepted our recommendation to reject and unanimously rejected the council’s position on Community Centres.”
Mr Stavert added: “Bathgate CCMC remains disappointed that the council is pursuing this deeply unpopular policy. We also remain disappointed that you dismissed our alternative suggestions without any real attempt to explore the potential of those suggestions.”
Mr Stavert said the council had refused to organise a meeting with the management committees at the various centres. It could have been a joint effort where “substantial improvements could have been made to community centre operations,” he added.
In its response to the council it added: “We have come to the conclusion that the recharge sum required of £70,000 is too much and that we would never raise that sort of money annually without commercialising the community centre and running it as a profit-making company which would defeat our charitable objectives and the whole ethos of a centre for community enhancement and development which is affordable to all.”
Mr Stavert added: “To this date you have not organised an all-West Lothian management committee meeting/council workshop where we could have thrashed out a different way forward.
By Stuart Sommerville Local Democracy Reporter
