Falkirk Council: Complaint made over Bo'ness Recreation Centre closure report

Councillors voted to close the centre for good last month as a condition report highlighted the need for repairs that would cost around £4 million.

But a group of local residents say they won’t give up trying to save a place that they believe is vital to the community’s health and well-being.

And in a formal complaint to Falkirk Council, campaigner Dorothy Ostacchini has asked a series of questions about how the decision to close the centre was made.

In particular, she wants know why the council’s own Equality and Poverty Impact Assessment, published in 2023, has major differences with the version presented to councillors when they took the final decision to close the centre last month.

Councils are legally obliged to do an Equality and Poverty Impact Assessment (EPIA) when making decisions.

While the results will not necessarily stop a decision being made, they are vital to help understand the full repercussions for people with ‘protected characteristics’ – including the young, elderly, disabled and people living in poverty.

Dorothy Ostacchini used the 2023 document to highlight the many concerns around the closure of the centre when she spoke at a public meeting against the closure, attended by more than 400 people.

But she was very concerned to see that the EPIA presented to councillors for the final decision contained major differences.

Mrs Ostacchini said: “They can make changes but they have to be dated, whereas certain information seems to have just disappeared.”

Among the concerns highlighted in the original EPIA are comments suggesting that both the police and fire service fear an increase in anti-social behaviour if the centre was to close.

Mrs Ostacchini says that conversations with local fire service officers and community police officers suggest that is indeed how the emergency services feel.

Neither Police Scotland nor the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service was directly asked for input into the EPIA however – and Mrs Ostacchini says the council must explain why concerns highlighted in the first report have “disappeared”.

The first version also looks at the impact the closure of the centre will have on older and disabled people in particular. Crucially, it suggests that the council should “agree public access arrangements during the school day and outwith school hours”.

The second version simply suggests that mitigation will be “relocating activities where possible to Bo’ness Academy and alternative Council venues”.

Dorothy said: “This is really important because this change effectively removes access for those who can only attend Bo’ness Recreation Centre during the day.

“Services for the elderly, those with childcare issues and members of the Active Forth services have been completely removed.”

In the complaint to Falkirk Council, the group says this is “a significantly different mitigation, which should have been highlighted”.

The complaint lays out the many concerns they have about the closure.

In particular, they want to know why it was allowed to be so chronically neglected that it became what the council called ‘category D: at end of life’.

Their question is: does this amount to negligence?

There are also concerns about the way the closure was handled as part of the council’s Strategic Property Review, where councillors were asked to read background reports on 59 buildings to make just one decision on whether to press ahead or not.

Falkirk Council officers insisted that the report had to be considered as a whole in ordered to make the required savings.

The council’s report highlighted that low numbers using Bo’ness Rec made it more expensive to run per head than either the Mariner Centre in Camelon or Grangemouth Sports Complex.

But the complaint suggests the lower numbers are “very much a consequence of the chronic underfunding, promotion and support”, firstly from Falkirk Community Trust and then from Falkirk Council.

The group’s complaint has been escalated to Stage 2 in the council’s complaints procedure which means the council has 20 days to respond.

A Falkirk Council spokesperson said: “We can confirm that we have received a complaint in connection to the planned closure of the Bo’ness Recreation Centre and a full response to the complainant in line with the Council’s complaints procedure will be provided in due course.

“It should be noted that all EPIA assessments undertaken by the Council provide information on those who may be impacted and any appropriate mitigation measures.”