West Lothian councillors are to engage in talks with church leaders hoping to take on the running of a West Lothian community centre.
Gordon Rouse, who put together the proposal for the Kings Church blamed a “miscommunication” for not appearing at Monday’s meeting of the Asset Transfer Committee in Livingston’s council chambers.
Council officers have recommended the transfer of Uphall Community Centre in the village’s Strathbrock Place to a management trust made up of the King’s Church West Lothian and members of the former management committee of the building which is currently owned by West Lothian Council.
Mr Rouse told the Local Democracy Reporting Service today [Wednesday]: “Our regular Uphall Community Trust with Kings Church West Lothian Trustee meeting took place last night.
“We firmly believe our strong, community-led proposal and application speak for themselves. We can confirm that, due to a miscommunication some weeks ago, we were unable to send a representative.”
Mr Rouse moved to reassure villagers. He said: “We look forward to engaging fully with the next CAT Committee meeting once WLC informs us of the date.
“We hope this continues to help the committee see the great strength of our application, clarify some points and correct any misconceptions.
“In the meantime, we will continue our valuable work with the local community to ensure that as many people as possible can make use of this vital and growing local facility, more details of which are available at www.uphallcommunitycentre.org.uk.”
Councillors expressed surprise at the meeting of the Asset Transfer Committee on Monday that none of the team were present to promote their proposals or answer questions from councillors.
Local councillors for the village, the SNP’s Tony Carlin and Labour’s Tony Boyle, expressed unease at the plans and told the meeting that there were doubts in the community about future access to the centre.
The committee agreed to delay a decision on the transfer of the centre to ask the management team questions on future plans.
By Stuart Sommerville, Local Democracy Reporter
