THE battle to ensure the Tullibody community will take on the civic centre has finally been realised with the formal granting of a community occupancy licence.

Members of the Tullibody Community Development Trust (TCDT) have been working with the council to progress the handover of the building, after the local authority announced it would not continue with funding.

As their agreement was not in place before the deadline, the centre was closed for the past seven weeks.

However, the trust has announced it has finally taken charge of the centre and hopes to see the venue thrive ahead of the Christmas period.

TCDT members have since thanked the community for all their support during their campaign.

Janet Gowran, trust secretary, added: "We’ve had an amazing response from everyone involved.

"We’re so looking forward to this Christmas and have been working with our friends at Tullibody Events to make sure we get a Christmas to remember; with the Civic Centre up and running and a winter wonderland of Christmas lights at Tron Court."

Chris Calder, trustee and chair of Tullibody History Group, added: "The Civic Centre has gone full circle: From being originally built and opened by the community, then run by the council, and now coming back to the community is really heart-warming.

"We have all the records at the Heritage Centre of when the centre was opened originally as a sports and recreation centre, and the records of when the sports hall was added later in the early 1990s by the council.

"It’s ironic that the newest part of the building, is the space causing the most problems at present."

There has been ongoing issues with the state of the building, but the trust is determined to push through, especially with the backing of tradespeople in the community.

Janette McGowan, trust chairperson, said: "We were always confident we would manage to re-open our community centre because the community has been 100 per cent behind us, all the way. We just didn’t expect it to take so long.

"The problems with the deteriorating condition of the building have caused so many stumbling blocks, not to mention the leak in the sports hall roof.

"But we know we can overcome the last hurdles since so many local tradespeople and local volunteers have come on board to help repair the damages.

"Our trustees have been busy over the last few weeks getting procedures in order and cleaning and decorating internal spaces."

The trust will host its annual general meeting on Thursday, December 6, at 7.30pm.

Janette added: "The community has always been at the centre of the trust’s vision and future plans for our community space, inside and out.

"What we are doing now is for our children and the future generations to make sure they have a home for groups, clubs, activities, sports, parties, social events, you name it – everything that brings a community together and improves their sense of health and wellbeing.

"We really hope our members will come along [to our AGM] to share in our vision for the next part of our journey."

To contact the trust, email at secretary@tullibodycdt.org.uk or email enquiries@tullibodycdt.org.uk to book a space.

The trust website is up and running at tullibodycdt.org.uk