North Lanarkshire Council U-turns on plans to close swimming pools and libraries
Last week councillors voted to close 39 facilities across the area.
Last updated 3rd Oct 2023
The leader of North Lanarkshire Council has announced his administration are going to do a U-turn on plans to close 39 swimming pools, libraries and community facilities in the area.
Last week councillors gave the green light to plans to shut down the likes of the Sir Matt Busby Sports Complex in Bellshill and Shotts Leisure Centre.
Cllr Jim Logue said: “We have taken the decision to protect these important community assets, despite a total lack of support from the Scottish Government to do so.
“The SNP has refused to offer a single penny more to support these facilities despite receiving £6 million to support swimming pools from the UK Government.
“North Lanarkshire Labour will protect these important facilities for the duration of this council term.
“However, our financial situation remains dire after more than a decade of cuts to our budget from the SNP in Holyrood, but Labour will always stand up for families here.
“It remains the case that North Lanarkshire Council will face difficult budget decisions as a result of failure of the SNP to properly resource local government.”
Reacting to the news Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar said: "We need to fight for local communities, but we are not getting enough money from Holyrood to fund local government.
"If we want to protect local services, stop councils from making tough choices then they need a fair funding settlement from the Scottish Government."
Clare Hall started an online petition to save the facilities and said: "Everyone is absolutely delighted about the u-turn on this decision, as these facilities mean so much to so many of us, and they are part of the basic foundations of any community.
"It actually seems that these services need more funding and investment, as in many cases where they claimed low footfall it was actually because the facilities were operating part time hours, or they were unavailable due to a lack of cleaning staff."