Opinion: Leisure centre cuts must be taken off table

The statement is very welcome, and it also puts more detail in the public domain.

But it doesn’t do the one thing local people want.

It doesn’t rule out any diminution in operating hours.

As long as that uncertainty remains, there will be concerns.

There is no doubt Fife Sports and Leisure Trust is facing difficult decisions.

Its management fee from Fife Council has shrunk from £6 to £2m in little more than ten years at the same time it has taken on more centres, all of which are of huge importance to their communities.

The Trust wants to “encourage local people who care about the centre” to use it rather than private gyms – arguing “a well-attended local facility sends a more powerful message than a petition.”

A rallying call is a very positive message – although some will fear there is a “use it or lose it” message hidden in there somewhere – but the Trust has to understand the level of concern locally over any perceived threat to the future of the Beacon.

Those concerns are perfectly valid. They cannot simply be dimissed.

Supporters of the Beacon say it attracts people from as far as Edinburgh, and it is the only facility with flumes.

What steps has the Trust taken to market those very positive messages?

Any review of operations must not just focus on savings/cuts – it has to look at the opportunities.

Much of that hinges on the appointment, and arrival, of a new CEO, who will surely want to make their own imprint on the organisation, its structures and its vision for the future.

It is perhaps unfortunate timing that fears over the Burntisland centre have emerged in that handover period, but it simply underlines the need for absolute clarity.