A legal battle may decide the future of Scotland’s leading riding for the disabled centre.
The award-winning facility at Bannockburn is in very real danger of closing after the charity’s landlord issued it with a notice to quit.
That is likely to be the precursor to legal proceedings, with the charity keen to stay and the two parties having enjoyed little contact in recent years other than through solicitors.
The charity is understood to be at a loss to explain why the difficulties have arisen though it is understood that around two-thirds of the 700-acre Sauchieburn Estate is up for sale.
Over the past two decades, the charity has spent more than £500,000 turning the facility into a centre of excellence that attracts users from across Central Scotland, Tayside and Fife. In recent years, however, relations with landowner and Glasgow businessman Bill Roddie have soured, with a long-standing access row putting the centre’s very existence in jeopardy.
A public meeting on its future will be held at Stirling’s Forth Valley College on Thursday, at 7pm, to which all supporters and interested parties are invited.
Parents from across Scotland have been participating in the bid to save the centre from closure, with a “RideOn” fund launched to give the charity the time to find a solution, support legal action or even help it relocate to alternative premises.
The fund has already generated more than £25,000 and so the news of the latest twist was extremely unwelcome for all who have invested in the centre.
BRDA development manager Carol Simpson told The Courier: “We have been running the campaign and receiving a lot of donations and then we received the notice to quit from our landlord’s solicitor.
“We have no intention of quitting at this time and so clearly it looks like this will be the precursor to a legal battle.
“We have invested more than half-a-million pounds in this site and clearly if we were to up and quit then we would have to leave all this behind.”
The charity must now consider whether it wishes to continue at Bannockburn or put its efforts into finding a new site.
“We need around 40 acres of land and we would then have to build something akin to what we have here,” Carol added.
“We do not want to just hand the keys back and disappear.”
Stirling MSP Bruce Crawford said he was “extremely disappointed” by the attitude of Mr Roddie, who was once again unavailable for comment when contacted by The Courier.
“I am deeply concerned at the uncertainty surrounding the future of this invaluable organisation,” he said.
“I would encourage anyone who may be able to help the group to attend the public meeting on the issue at 7pm on Thursday June 19 at Forth Valley College.”
Donations to the RideOn fund can be sent to Bannockburn RDA, Sauchieburn Centre, Sauchie Estate, Stirling, FK7 9PZ or pledged at www.justgiving.com/BannockburnRDA-RideOn.