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Threat to Oban outdoor centre as council attempts to make £9million worth of cuts and savings

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An outdoor centre which employs 16 people in Oban could close its doors.

Kilbowie Outdoor Centre, owned by North Lanarkshire Council, provides a residential stay including hill walking, sailing, canoeing, ski-ing, mountain biking, gorge walking, abseiling and tree climbing to the area’s primary seven children.

During the summer months, the centre on Gallanach Road, which has been open for 25 years, is also used by other educational establishments.

The mixture of permanent and sessional staff stay in and around Oban.

But the central belt-based authority could close Kilbowie’s doors as it attempts to make £9million worth of cuts and savings.

A public consultation to help influence the decision that need to be made, has just closed.

Closing Kilbowie Outdoor Centre could save the council £714,000. However it has just completed a major refurbishment on the exterior of the building, costing more than £1million.

A spokesman for North Lanarkshire Council said: “The public consultation on the 2018 budget closed on Wednesday and we have had a good response from the public, including individual responses, feedback from drop-in sessions and online comment. The public’s feedback will be collated and analysed and a report will be prepared for the council meeting on February 23 when it will discuss its budget.”

Kilbowie, situated across from the isle of Kerrera, was formerly a residential hostel for children from the islands attending Oban High School.

Campaigner Carole Henderson, from Tarbert in Argyll, who now lives in Cumbernauld in the North Lanarkshire area, said: “All children in North Lanarkshire go there for five days in primary seven. My daughter is in fourth year and my son is in first year. My son has additional support needs. They both benefitted from it, but my son got more out of it.

“Sometimes the children don’t realise themselves the impact it has had on them. But the parents and teachers can see it.

“Of all the things they could do away with, to close Kilbowie would be absolutely ridiculous.”