Lesmahagow Hall

Speech delivered on Thu 14th Jan 2010

There are a few places that make a group of buildings with people living in them in to what we would recognise as a community.

A school is one - they allow people to come together for the common good of children's education, play parks another - host interaction not just for children playing but for adults of all ages, post offices also, I hope it is now realised provide a vital anchor point for many communities

Community Hospitals too, for care local to where people live, and we just need to look a little deeper into the South of Scotland where Dumfries and Galloway NHS have a preferred option in their consultation to close five of their nine community hospitals. Potentially leaving communities with great distances to cover, where there is presently no public transport suitable for many to visit their relatives.

The strength of local opposition to these NHS proposals is overwhelming. And I of course hope members across this floor will join my campaign to save those hospitals - and you'll all have your chance next Wednesday evening in this chamber.

And also of importance to define a community is community halls.

And Lesmahagow's Jubilee Hall is no different to any others in that respect. Especially in the rural parts of South Scotland.

It's a hall that provides accommodation for many activities - parent & child - dance - badminton- keep fit - even functions - perhaps wedding functions too, unfortunately my invitation seemed to get lost in the post but I hope Aileen Campbell allowed the Jubilee to quote for her recent nuptials - and of course Drama has a perfect place to develop in a community hall - many of our finest actors and actresses have cut their teeth in local halls - and I'm sure we would all agree that there are many of our fellow MSPs who show an amazing wealth of dramatic prowess, perhaps some due to some Am-Dram in a local hall.

But like Aileen Campbell who has been very active in particular with the Jubilee Hall, I have had a long history of supporting local halls, in fact I was Yarrow Community Hall Secretary for around 7 years. But since 2007 there has been questions as to how hall funding can continue -

Back in Autumn 2007 CS Richard Lochhead in an answer to a Question from myself stated that there would be funding available via Scottish Rural Development Fund and the European LEADER funding. Which is welcome and useful in many communities.

But these funds as we know are very limited and competitive, also not easy to access. And access to funding is the key. It is well known that it is the responsibility of local authorities to whether they keep various facilities open under the single outcome agreement, and there's no doubt that they have difficult decisions and must prioritise to ensure that the provision is kept, at a time when there is pressure on budgets throughout.

So yes local government has the final decision. But yes Salmond's Government too needs to acknowledge that there is a need to keep our communities thriving. And it is for this Government to address the issue of red tape in communities and businesses applying for development funds, in order for them to access the funding that could be available.

I wish Lesmahagow community and Aileen Campbell well regarding their campaign to save the Jubilee Hall, it's well known that once community provision goes it is very difficult to return. Options such as using local schools can help with provision, but is a second best, schools are primarily for education and that must be their focus.

In closing I do plea to South Lanarkshire Council to ensure that they look carefully at ways not to close the jubilee hall, but ways to keep this heart of the community open for business.