Trying times: Rugby club hit hard by Falkirk Council's decision to close recreation centre

Falkirk Council agreed on Wednesday Bo’ness Recreation Centre be closed in the coming months due to concerns over its state of repair. The local authority’s strategic property review surveyors reported the building was “Category D (Bad)” which is ““life expired and/or serious risk of imminent failure; risk of injury”.

The survey identified urgent repair needs, including rewiring and electrical installations, new boilers, and addressing structural issues with the estimated cost for these

works exceeding £4 million.

The council stated it was left with “no option” but to close the facility and it would press on with plans to invest £3 million of funding into community access to sport and

leisure facilities at secondary schools in the Falkirk Council area including Bo’ness Academy.

This was not good news for Bo’ness Rugby Club.

Founded 13 years ago the grass roots club started with just one men’s team and has now grown to boast a thriving youth programme and a women’s team.

It currently leases its pitch from Falkirk Council and has invested in the facility to make it suitable for our use by adding rugby posts and obtaining National Lottery and

Coalfields funding for a fence to run round the perimeter.

The club has also secured its own shipping containers to use for equipment storage, but it is still heavily reliant on the facilities available in Bo’ness Recreation Centre.

Club president Adam Sneddon said: “We also use the toilets and changing rooms when hosting matches. In addition we use the meeting rooms, games hall and

cafeteria, and rely on the astroturf pitches for winter training as being unable to install and run floodlights means we cannot use our own pitch.

“The closure of the recreation centre will significantly impact our ability to keep our club running. We will be unable to host other clubs for home games as we will not have access to changing rooms and toilet facilities.

"We will also have to reduce the duration of youth training sessions as the children will not be able to access toilets. We will not be able to run winter training in Bo’ness

as there are no other facilities available to us – the astro at Bo’ness Academy is constantly booked for football training.

"As a club it is vitally important for us to keep training going over the winter months to ensure continued engagement and continuity for the players.”

Bo’ness Rugby Club stated it wants to be able to continue to make rugby accessible to all genders and all ages in a safe and fun environment and without boundaries

relating to costs.

The closure of the recreation centre will probably put an end to this.

Adam said: “We understand first-hand the difference it can make to individuals’ mental health and well being when they have a sense of belonging and can share

positive experiences with others.

"If we do not have access to appropriate facilities we will be unable to engage at our current level with local young people. One of the best ways to keep children on the

right path is to give them skills to succeed in life – something our club can provide by building resilience, self-confidence and discipline while engaging in a fun activity.

"If we have to move out of Bo’ness this will seriously impact the ability of our youth and women’s teams to attend training due to poor local transport links, exclude some

owing to increased costs, and threaten the links being forged across the community."

Finding replacement facilities to for the ones currently offered by the recreation centre is a financial burden the rugby club could not possibly cope with.

"We would be required to undertake asset transfer of the pitch,” said Adam. “Which would incur fees for legal work, surveys and planning applications. We would have

to meet the cost of having utility services run to the pitch, providing car parking, toilets, showers, changing facilities that are accessible to all, a meeting room and

kitchen facilities.

"This would be in addition to maintaining the pitch and sorting out the current drainage issues which Falkirk Council have repeatedly failed to do or engage with us about.

“Closing Bo’ness Recreation Centre and removing the facilities on which we rely is, in effect, making us homeless with nowhere to turn to in the local area.”

The club is asking for the council’s support and not just “add some additional facilities into Bo’ness Academy”.

Adam said: “We need investment to ensure that the loss of the recreation centre is not detrimental to the running of the clubs that are part of our local community. The range of facilities created should be driven by the activities that currently take place in recreation centre – like for like facilities, not only created but properly

maintained, to secure the future of sports and recreational activities for everyone in Bo’ness."

Falkirk Council leader Cecil Meiklejohn said: “We are very much aware of the community’s feelings over the closure of Bo’ness Recreation Centre, however, looking at

the facts presented in an independent surveyor’s report simply leaves us with no options here.

“What we want to focus on is investment in more suitable locations including Bo’ness that will see better access to sports and leisure facilities that can have decades of

a life span unlike Bo’ness Recreation Centre which is at the end of its useful life.”