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.
Roads on the estate have deteriorated to the extent that many users can no longer gain access to the centre cutting income by as much as 70%.
A successful fundraising campaign has been helping the charity to offset those losses and uncertainty over traditional sources of funding, such as the Lottery but the latest development has it considering the future of the centre even more seriously.
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 to attend.
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 garnered more than £25,000 and so the news of the latest twist was extremely unwelcome for all 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 know that there are issues in which we are in dispute and clearly he has decided to take his chances with the courts.
“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 does indeed wish to continue at Bannockburn or put its efforts into finding a new site.
Efforts have already been made to find an alternative location but the logistics mean that any move would not be straightforward.
“We need around 40 acres of land and we would then have to build something akin to what we have here,” Carol added.
“That would not be cheap and it is not something that could be undertaken in a couple of weeks. First and foremost, we are determined to get the possible outcome we can for the organisation.
“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.
“It is essential that every effort is now made to ensure a secure future for Bannockburn Riding for the Disabled.
“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.