'This will not be welcome news' – Elgin Community Centre to close
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MORAY Council has announced the closure of Elgin Community Centre.
Councillors agreed to shut the centre in 2024 during a closed-doors discussion at last Wednesday's (June 28) full council meeting, subject to a "workforce consultation".
According to a Council spokesperson, the community centre is "no longer a viable facility" and will require nearly £600,000 of improvement work over five years.
Attempts to reduce savings costs had failed, the spokesperson added, and the building relied on costly, old heating and lighting systems.
The number of people using the centre had also not recovered since the Covid pandemic ended, said the spokesperson.
User groups were told about the decision in an email from Kim Slater, the Council's sport and culture service manager, sent the day after the decision.
The email said: "We appreciate that this will not be welcome news to your user group and we appreciate your support and commitment to this facility over the years, this decision is purely based on escalating operational and maintenance costs of a Council facility."
The final date for the community centre, as a Council service, will be March 31, 2024.
No plans for the building's future have been announced and the Council is "continuing to hold wider discussions to determine the future use of the building."
Following the decision, the Council has pledged that officers will support groups to find suitable alternative accommodation where possible.
Baby to pre-school childcare provider VIP Childcare currently occupy Elgin Community Centre under an informal lease agreement.
The childcare group is currently in discussions with the Council about its future.
A Council spokesperson confirmed that the group may be allowed to stay past the centre's final date, while it seeks a long term option.
Pre-covid, entries to the community centre were around 75,000 a year, however numbers fell to 48,834 in 2022/23 including children accessing VIP Childcare.
Moray MP Douglas Ross claimed the centre's closure was the result of "savage SNP cuts", and that the Conservative-led Moray Council administration had been "backed into a corner".
He said: “Elgin Community Centre has been an important hub for many groups and organisations for a long time, so I know these proposals will be keenly felt within the local area.
“Sadly Moray Council has been backed into a corner by years of savage SNP cuts which have been imposed on local authorities.
“That is why they are having to consider tough decisions such as this.
“I will liaise closely with the council, the local community in Elgin and other interested stakeholders to explore what can be done regarding these proposals which will met with disappointment from users and staff at the centre.”
