Leisure helped by recovery cash

management with WLL to allow them to remain in credit.

A report to committee added:“The WLL forecast cash flow position remains uncertain and an additional £500,000 contingency has been incorporated into the outturn to reflect additional cash flow costs anticipated.”

Councillor Frank Anderson, the SNP group depute leader said:“Not that long ago we agreed to reprofiling and paid upfront. That was supposed to steady things, and here we are saying they need another half a million.

“We agreed on a package that would see them through. We are over a barrel here. We have thousands of organisations that don’t have the luxury of this.

“Where do we know where we can draw the line, six months, nine months, or the end of the financial year?”

Tory group leader, Councillor Damian Timson added his concerns.

He said:“We are going down a road that we won’t have control of should things not go in the right direction.”

Mr Welsh said there are likely to be additional financial implications adding that there are significant uncertainties.

He said the conditions attached to the letter of comfort required WLL to balance its budget and stick to its three-year funding plans.

The chief executive, Graham Hope (below), said the council was in the midst of an evolving situation and the council was bound to stick to Scottish Government guidance on when facilities could reopen. He added that it remained uncertain whether the public would use facilities when they did.

Council leader, Lawrence Fitzpatrick, thanked Mr Welsh for a comprehensive report and said he was sure that financial officers had been“exceedingly prudent”and had covered all the bases to protect council tax payers.

Councillor Anderson noted that many users had voted with their feet before the pandemic and opted to use private gyms.