The meetings will take place in the assembly hall of Armadale Academy on Tuesday, April 14, and Wednesday, April 15, from 7pm.
Two public meetings have been organised to keep residents informed on the council’s proposals for the former Armadale swimming pool site.
The meetings will take place in the assembly hall of Armadale Academy on Tuesday, April 14, and Wednesday, April 15, from 7pm.
Armadale residents and other interested members of the public are invited to attend either of those two meetings, to find out more about what is being put forward and to gather the community’s views on these proposals.
The site is a “common good” property, and this means that we have a legal duty to undertake a statutory community consultation to help us understand what the community thinks about that proposal.
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At these meetings, council officers will explain what common good is; the status of the property; what the council’s proposal for the building are, and; why those proposals are being put forward.
A council spokesperson said: “The common good consultation is running until May 22, with the outcome of this consultation will be presented to Council Executive in June 2026.
“It aims to hear views on the proposed sale or lease of the North Street site, and the potential demolition of the building in the event of no viable interests being received.
“The pool has been closed since September 2023, after West Lothian Leisure informed the council that they could no longer afford to operate it.
“There are no plans to re-open the pool, but the site is still available for community use or community asset transfer if any viable requests come forward at this time.”
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Last month, a petition opposing the pool’s ‘sale, lease or demolition’ gained thousands of signatures.
Over 150 locals gathered at a meeting on Thursday, March 12, to voice their concerns over the potential loss of the pool.
Armadale residents argue future generations could be robbed of a well loved community asset.
Prior to the pool closing in September 2023, the council sought expressions of interest both from commercial and community groups who might be interested in operating the site.
Jillian Dunnigan, who started the petition to save the swimming pool has been joined by neighbours en masse to demand the pool be saved.
The petition argues the loss of the pool will have a significant impact on the community. It adds residents have faced travel barriers, increased costs, and reduced access to physical activity since its closure in 2023.
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The potential for the permanent closure of the swimming pool is at odds with a council ‘Locality Plan’ which set out to improve ‘health and wellbeing’ outcomes in the former mining town.
The council previously engaged with Armadale Thistle Football Club on community-led proposals for the property, however the club was not able to take those proposals forward.
Since 2023, the pool has not been drained. This was aimed at minimising potential costs if anyone wished in future to re-open the pool.
The council say while the operating and security costs of maintaining the pool building have been minimised, they have been incurring these costs for over two and a half years and it is not sustainable to meet these indefinitely.
Any net proceeds from the sale or lease of the property would go directly to the Armadale Common Good Fund, with community groups able to make bids into that fund through the Armadale and Blackridge Local Area Committee.
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