Labour and SNP in war of words over sport facilities
Privatisation claim by Nats
Labour and the SNP were locked in a bitter war of words in the run-up to last night’s (Thursday) crucial meeting to decide the future of Stirling Council’s sports facilities.
As we revealed in last Friday’s Observer, private company Sports and Leisure Management Ltd has been named “preferred bidder” for the 25-year contract, worth £25 million, to run The Peak and Stirling Sports Village, including Forthbank Stadium.
A rival bid was submitted by Active Stirling, which has managed the facilities on behalf of Stirling Council since 2006, but officers say placing the contract with SLM Ltd will save £2m in the first five years of the deal.
However, the council’s SNP group intended to reject the recommendation, fearing the switch to a private operator threatens services.
Their group leader Scott Farmer said: “People across the Stirling area will be baffled that the Tories and Labour are rounding off their time together in administration by going hand-in-hand in privatising crucial services such as sports and leisure.
“At the beginning of this process senior Labour councillors gave false assurances that the tendering process would not lead to privatisation.
“Now they are proposing that they grant a 25-year contract to a private firm to run what is currently operated by a partner organisation. This is a real threat to the value-for-money service people currently receive.
“The SNP group that I lead cannot accept this proposal and we will not back the Tory ideological privatisation of services that Labour seem all too keen to support.”
Council convenor of community planning and regeneration Corrie McChord said all bidders were required to run the services through a Scottish charitable trust.
“To say it is privatisation is political grandstanding at its worst from the SNP, who failed to get to grips with this issue when they were in administration from 2008-2012,” he added.
“We have a duty to get the best value from taxpayers’ money and provide the best services possible for everybody.”
Mr McChord said paperwork on the tendering process would be available to all councillors prior to the meeting.
“I would urge everybody to read this and make up their own minds as to what is the best course of action,” he added.
An online petition in support of Active Stirling’s retention of the contract has attracted more than 1200 signatures and around 400 comments.
It was started by Samantha Hutchison, who runs Luxury Lives beauty salon at Forthbank Stadium and is worried about the future of her business if the contract changes hands.
A council spokesman said they spend more than £1m a year in the delivery of sports and leisure provision across the Stirling area.
She added: “The service is currently supplied by an external contractor, Active Stirling, not an in-house operation. The current contract has been in place since 2006 and has been subject to several extensions.
“Legally the council could not continue with indefinitely extending the contract so in December 2015 the council took the decision to tender and undertake a competitive procurement process to ensure best value for the taxpayer. A preferred bidder has now been identified.
“There has been a lot of speculation about the process and we understand this is a deeply unsettling time for the staff who deliver these services, which is why it is important to stress that staff working in the service would transfer to a new provider and would be protected by employment legislation. Likewise, existing contracts with self-employed contractors and instructors would also transfer.
“This is not privatisation of the service. Prices will not rise because of this process. A charitable trust, registered in Scotland, would run the service and would be required to reinvest any surplus back into the service.”
This is a real threat to the value-for-money service people currently receive Scott Farmer