In June, the council agreed to West Lothian Leisure's request for consent to close the three sites from 31 August. West Lothian Leisure confirmed that these three facilities make a significant financial loss and that they could no longer afford to operate them. In addition to the running costs, each of the three pools would require significant sums of capital (one off) expenditure to ensure they were able to operate in the short term. However, no funding is available.
By formally declaring a property surplus to requirements, the council confirms that the property is no longer required for the delivery of council services.
A report to the Council Executive today also agreed that Armadale Swimming Pool should be confirmed as being common good property. Statutory provisions apply to common good property and, in accordance with those provisions, the council will begin a statutory eight week community consultation on the proposed disposal of Armadale pool. The Livingston and Broxburn pools are not common good property and these will be marketed in line with the council's Surplus Property Procedures. The Broxburn and Livingston pools will be advertised for sale on the open market and any offers to purchase and any expressions of interest from the community will be invited to a closing date. The marketing period will run for a period of eight weeks.
Community Asset Transfer is available to community bodies who are interested in taking over public land and property and council officers will provide assistance to any community group seeking to explore this avenue. Successful asset transfer requests typically provide evidence of significant preparatory work having been undertaken at the pre-application stage and would include evidence of community engagement that establishes need and community buy-in for the proposed project, a detailed business plan that demonstrates financial viability and sustainability, along with evidence that the community body has the capacity and skill-sets necessary to deliver and sustain the project going forward.
Leader of the Council, Lawrence Fitzpatrick said: "The council must effectively manage its property assets and vacant properties present a risk of dereliction and require continual upkeep. It is therefore essential that the sites are declared surplus to requirements to allow council officers to market the sites. The marketing period allows any interested parties to respond by the closing date."
