Martial arts gym booked in to lease former library building

The former Carmondean Library in north Livingston is to become a martial arts gym.

The building – once known as Carmondean Connected – in the Carmondean Shopping Centre was vacated with the opening of the new Livingston North Partnership nearby.

However, Conservative councillor Alison Adamson,and some SNP members have voiced disappointment the building will not be retained for public use by community groups.

The firm has agreed a 10year lease of the building at £10,000-a-year for the first two years and rising in the next eight years to £18,000-a-year.

The gym will offer martial arts, boxing, fitness and mindfulness classes.

A report to the council executive said: “The property was openly marketed during the period July 2021 to November 2021 and an initial closing date was set for November 10, 2021.

“Offers received did not represent best value and therefore the property was remarketed.

“A fresh closing date for offers of lease, purchase or community asset transfer was set for February 24, 2022 with offers received.

“There were no community asset transfer requests received at the closing date.”

Scott Hughes, an asset manager for the council assured the meeting that despite active marketing there had been no interest from community groups to use the building.

The meeting heard that the lease of the building as a gym was the best deal for the council.

However, Councillor Adamson told the meeting she was “disappointed that no community use could be found” given the building’s prime site in the Carmondean Shopping

Centre.

She added: “I’m still extremely concerned and have grave misgivings about it.”

SNP group leader Janet Campbell wondered if more support could have been given to encourage community groups to take up use of the building.

There was an active campaign to stop the library being moved from the 1960s building into the redesigned Ability Centre nearby.

Some locals argued that the council had deliberately let the library deteriorate and that the service would suffer from being crammed into a redesigned Ability Centre which has now opened as the Partnership Building.

The former ability centre building, which provides support for adults with complex physical disabilities, now also houses the area library, customer information service and MacMillan Cancer Support Services.