Councillors are likely to decide the fate of an outdoor education centre used by generations of Fifers at their next meeting.
The Ardroy Outdoor Education Centre at Lochgoilhead, which has been used mainly by school pupils for the past 40 years, is facing the axe after Fife Council confirmed plans earlier this year to withdraw its funding from the facility.
The local authority expects to save around £290,000 a year by cutting its subsidy but insists alternative provision is available locally, having invested an extra £80,000 in the Lochore Meadows Country Park outdoor education team to meet expected demand if Ardroy is closed.
With the centre’s future still up in the air, members of the region’s policy, finance and asset management (PFAM) committee will consider four options detailing the way forward for the centre ahead of its scheduled closure on July 31.
One of those, The Courier understands, will outline plans put forward by a non-profit-making group which could save the centre, in a move which would see the group made up of professional and business people take over the centre on a four-year lease and run it as a charitable social enterprise.
The other options are to readvertise Ardroy on the market on the basis of a commercial long-term lease; sell the entire Ardroy site by conventional sale; or sell Ardroy House specifically to the non-profit-making group and put nearby Falkland Hill Cottage, West Lomond Cottage and Spinney House on the market.
Councillors have been asked to direct officers on the best way forward, but Councillor David Ross, Labour spokesperson on housing and communities, hopes the social enterprise rescue plan will find favour with PFAM members.
“This proposal is the only one on the table that would keep Ardroy open as an outdoor education centre,” said Mr Ross. “I understand that Fife schools would still be offered places at discounted rates and since it would be a social enterprise, any profits would go back into improving the centre.
“I believe the proposal is for the centre to be transferred to the group at a pepper corn rent on a 25-year lease. This would save the council the current running costs of £290,000 per year and the group should be able to bring in funding from other sources to improve the centre.
“Of course if the centre was to be leased out, the council could not then sell the property and wouldn’t receive the income from a sale. But I believe the value of the continuation of high-quality outdoor education at Ardroy far outweighs this consideration.”
Mr Ross said he was disappointed the officer report to PFAM takes an “overly cautious” view of the proposal and puts what he considers to be “artificial barriers” in the way.
“The other alternatives in the report look unrealistic or would mean the final closure of Ardroy,” he said. “I urge the council to do whatever it can to help make this proposal work.
“I and my Labour colleagues voted against the original decision to close Ardroy and we think that good quality outdoor education is an important part of the educational experience for Fife’s children.”