Edinburgh Leisure cuts are a false economy

EDINBURGH Council budget proposals to cut almost £3.5 million from the money given to Edinburgh Leisure is completely misguided says Gordon Lindhurst MSP.

Yes, it will save money over the four years that the cuts are being implemented.

But what of the potential longerterm costs for physical and mental health?

Arms-length council facilities are a great resource for people in the capital. They provide affordable ways of keeping fit for the mind as well as the body, with most of us within fairly easy reach of somewhere to ’work-out’.

The strains on Edinburgh Leisure are already welldocumented with threats that facilities may close and prices increased.

Indeed I previously fought a battle with The Scottish Government over suggestions that

ALEOs would no longer get rates relief. Thankfully that was ditched and devastation avoided.

But these new cuts will pose further questions about the value we place on physical activity.

Our health and wellbeing should not be placed in jeopardy as a result of ill-thought through short-term savings.