Closed for leisure
A festive shutdown of leisure facilities and cultural centres of up to 15 days has been slammed.
South Ayrshire Council sanctioned the mass closure of swimming pools, sports centres and even libraries.
That’s despite there being only FOUR public holidays.
It left families with children furious they couldn’t go for a dip during the holidays.
Duncan Simpson, Policy Analyst at the TaxPayers’ Alliance said: “The Council should have a good excuse for closing services over the holiday period when they would be most likely to make use of them.”
The policy flies in the face of Scottish Government policy which states “encouraging people to be more active could help prevent and treat more than 20 chronic diseases, increse life expectancy and reduce pressure on the NHS.”
And one dad in Troon said: “I couldn’t take my wee ones to Troon pool and my wife couldn’t get the DVD she wanted from Troon Library.
“It’s about time South Ayrshire Council realised it is there to serve the people, rather than bosses allowing leisure staff to put their feet up for a fortnight.”
The Citadel Leisure Centre in Ayr was shut for just four days, taking the public holidays.
Troon, Prestwick and Maybole pools all shut on December 23 and did not re- open till January 3.
Activity centres in Whitletts and Mossblown had the longest break, shutting on December 22 and re- opening on Monday January 7.
The main Carnegie Library in Ayr and the main local libraries in Girvan, Prestwick and Troon shut on December 22, and re- opened on January 3.
December 21 was shutdown for Alloway, Ballantrae, Forehill, Maybole, Tarbolton and Symington librarie.
Meanwhile main attracts Rozelle House and the Maclaurin Art Gallery shut on December 23 right through to January 3.
The McKechnie Institute in Girvan shut on December 22 and opened on the afternoon of January 3.
This week the Council claimed there was nothing wrong with their opening hours.
A spokesman said: “The number of people using Council facilities can fall sharply during the Christmas holidays and our opening hours reflect this reduced demand.
“Our largest leisure facility the Citadel in Ayr was open between Christmas and the New Year and we heavily promoted its opening hours along with our other facilities in the local press, in Customer Service Centres, on our website and on social media.
“As a Council we are committed to promoting health and wellbeing which