CAMPAIGNERS have launched a second legal challenge over council bosses' plan to close Auchinleck Leisure Centre.
The centre was originally due to close completely by the end of November under plans announced by East Ayrshire Council (EAC), but that was then pushed back until January, and then further again until March.
Auchinleck Leisure Community Committee (ALCC) was set up in the aftermath of EAC's decision to close the facility, originally announced back in October.
In November, council bosses said they would engage with users following concerns over the relocation of some users of the facility.
ALCC confirmed to the Chronicle in December that they had started legal action against EAC, believed to be over the local authority's handling of their decision to close the centre.
Now the Glasgow-based Govan Law Centre, the not-for-profit legal practice which has taken on the campaigners' case, has said that it has "raised a second petition for judicial review in the Court of Session".
READ MORE: In-person Auchinleck Leisure Centre consultation takes place
A GLC spokesperson said: "Govan Law Centre (GLC) has accepted new client instructions and raised a second petition for judicial review in the Court of Session, in Edinburgh, against East Ayrshire Council’s (EAC) decision to close the swimming pool at the Auchinleck Leisure Centre in East Ayrshire.
"On October 25, 2023, EAC decided to close the swimming pool at the end of November 2023 'with provision being relocated to Visions Leisure Centre with no disruption to service'.
"The assertion of relocation appeared to be factually incorrect, as the local authority was decommissioning a swimming pool in the village of Auchinleck with an assumption that all service users could use the Visions Leisure Centre in the town of Cumnock without any impact on service users."
GLC, a Scottish charitable incorporated organisation, describes itself as a "free legal resource" whose staff "use the law to challenge poverty, discrimination and disadvantage".
The GLC spokesperson added: "The Court action challenges the swimming pool closure on a number of grounds, in relation to statutory requirements under the Equality Act 2010 and 2012 Regulations made thereunder, and common law requirements in relation to consultation and arguments with respect to indirect disability discrimination.
"The petition will require to satisfy the permission test in the Court of Session Act 1988 before it can proceed further in Court."
EAC says the plan was always to demolish the centre and adjoining Auchinleck Academy building once the school's transfer to the new Robert Burns Academy in Cumnock had been completed.
They say it would cost an estimated £6.5 million to demolish the original school buildings and upgrade the leisure facilities to meet modern standards of energy efficiency and health and safety.
The council recently announced a public consultation on the future of the leisure centre site.
The first of those was held on January 5, with a further two sessions planned for this Thursday, January 11, from 6-8pm and Saturday, January 13 form 1-3pm, both at the Boswell Centre in Auchinleck.
East Ayrshire Council has been contacted for further comment.
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