Locals bowled over by club's claims

Published 5 Feb 2010 12:13 0 Comments

A PEEBLESSHIRE bowling club that claimed £16,000 over 20 years as a public facility are to appeal against their recent planning refusal - by bizarrely claiming that they were never a public facility.

Glentress Indoor Bowling Club submitted a proposal to build two houses on the site of their clubhouse at Eshiels last year, stating that the building and club were no longer viable.

However, this met with stiff opposition from local residents who claimed that the hall was unviable as a result of them never being allowed to use it.

It then emerged that the club's committee had been collecting £800 annually from the Federation of Village and Community Halls (PFVCH) while operating as a private members club for over 20 years.

In a first of its kind ruling, planning chiefs turned down their planning application before Christmas, making use of a policy adopted as a result of the long-running saga at the Crook Inn.

In his ruling planning officer Barry Fotheringham said: "The existing recreation hall provides opportunities for social well-being and inclusion in a rural area and the loss of this public facility would have a significant adverse effect on the sustainability and viability of the Eshiels community."

However club members have now submitted an appeal against this ruling in which they state that they were never in fact a public facility to begin with.

They also claim that their membership of PFVCH did not specifically require that the site be available to the general public or more specifically the Eshiels community.

However this is refuted by Fran Swift, secretary of the Peeblesshire Federation of Village and Community Halls (PFVCH).

She said: "There is no way that they would ever have qualified for funding unless they were a public facility.

"We even have written submissions which indicate they were a public and community facility."

Local resident and chair of Eshiels Community Group, Tom Arnott, has been left stunned by Glentress Indoor Bowling Club's sudden claims.

He said: "This is quite baffling, they are clearly contradicting themselves. How can they accept public money for 20 years but now claim they are a private club?

"We'll all be keeping our fingers crossed that the appeal fails because there are over 50 households in the surrounding area all keen to breath some life into the hall.

"We look at the success enjoyed by the Newlands community and their facility and would love to attempt something like that here in Eshiels."

Tweet

This article appeared in Peeblesshire News 05 Feb 10

Post a comment

Your Comment:

Registered users log in here

Username or email

Password

If you are registered with us, you can login here. If you are not registered, do so now.
Once logged in you wont have to complete word verification each time you post.

Prefer not to register?

Screen Name *required

Email (not displayed) *required

Usernames must be 4 - 20 characters. Registration only takes a few minutes. Registered users can also take part in competitions and other features of the site.

Word Verification:
Enter the text as shown.

Return to the main index, get more from this section or browse our News archives.

Follow @peeblesnews