WITH hours at both Cowdenbeath Leisure Centre and Bowhill Pool being reduced, a motion has been put to the Scottish Parliament asking that Fife Council consult with communities before any more of these measures are put into operation.

Fife MSP, Alex Rowley, fears leisure services in Fife are under threat due to budget cuts and has tabled the motion at Holyrood highlighting 'the cuts to the Fife Sport and Leisure Trust' and is writing to all Fife Councillors asking them to look at the impact reductions are having on opening times for public swimming and the availability of sport and leisure facilities.

Mr Rowley said: “I am highlighting this issue and asking councillors not to hide behind the Trust.

"These are public services that have been cut to the bone and there are now far less hours available for public swimming than there was when the Trust was set up by the then SNP/Lib Dem administration back in 2008.

"At that point the Trust was given a management fee of £6million to run the council facilities, but this has been cut to £2million this year and the availability of services is suffering as a result.

"This level of cut goes against the many strategies that Fife Council has for health and wellbeing and I do wonder if the time has come for the council to stop spending so much money on developing meaningless strategies and put the money into frontline services".

He added: “If this level of cuts continues, we are moving towards the closure of facilities and that is why I am calling for action and for councillors to put a stop to the cuts in this area of public service. I know that you cannot get a swim in Dunfermline, for example, between 6 and 8 in the evening, pensioner groups in Bowhill have been frozen out in the mornings and that all pools have cut public access. I also know that it was proposed to close Burntisland Pool altogether but that was resisted this time round. We must stand up against more of this".

The MSP concuded: "I want to see greater transparency in council budgets and much more consultation with the public. The fact that there has been no public consultation on the cutting of hours in the swimming pools is not acceptable”.

Alex Rowley's motion is worded: 'That the Parliament notes with concern the reductions in the budget of the Fife Sport and Leisure Trust; understands that these are resulting in a reduction in access to public swimming in a number of Fife swimming pools; recognises the campaign led by retired residents of the Cardenden area against the closure of Bowhill swimming pool on weekday mornings to save money on staffing; believes that such closures run contrary to the spirit of many local authority and Scottish Government strategies aimed at tackling poor health, improving wellbeing and reducing social isolation and loneliness; notes that Fife Council established the charitable Trust as a step to avoid paying business rates on its leisure facility buildings; is concerned that, despite the Trust warnings to Fife Council that the consequences of continued reductions in its management fee threatens access to public swimming, the local authority continues to make these reductions; understands that the Trust was set up in 2008 to manage and operate leisure facilities on behalf of Fife Council and was paid a management fee of £6 million, and believes that having reduced the management fee to £2 million, Fife Council must now consult with the people of Fife on their priorities before making any more reductions to public swimming in Fife'.