Published: Wednesday, 10th June, 2009 12:43pm

Council puts Zones back on the market

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THE former Zones Leisure Centre is officially back on the market but one of the previous leading contenders to buy it claims they are no longer interested.

Clackmannanshire councillors agreed to put Zones, in Clackmannan Road in Alloa, back up for sale on Thursday following the collapse of the previous deal to buy it – but already Alloa Athletic have indicated they will not be submitting any fresh bids.

A previously agreed deal to sell Zones fell apart in March when developers, Alex and Alan Bradie, pulled the plug saying the council refused to remove conditions attached to its sale.

The father and son team from Fishcross have confirmed they would still like to buy the leisure centre.

But the Wasps, whose ground sits adjacent to the centre, have confirmed they will not be returning with any further offers.

Zones originally opened in 2003 offering youngsters a variety of facilities including an indoor skate park, fitness suite, music zone and five-a-sides.

After proving to be initially popular, interest waned and the building fell into disrepair. In January 2008 a decision was taken to close it, with the council siting the building"s poor state and the low level of use.

Since then, prohibitive refurbishment costs and disputes over conditions attached to the sale has seen Zones sitting unused.

Alex Bradie told the Advertiser his bid, approved in November, would have brought an investment of up to £500,000 to create a bowling alley, children"s play area and cafe/bar. But the deal collapsed after they were told any future changes of use to the building would have to be referred to the council"s legal department.

Mr Bradie added, 'I will be putting in another offer for it but until we buy the place we can"t be sure exactly how it will work.

'I am aiming to buy it without the restrictions. The only thing I could do was the bowling alley, children"s area and cafe bar – I couldn"t even tell a local judo club if they could use the hall without having to refer back.

'I want it with no conditions saying we have to go back to the legal department to decide. Any changes should only be going to the planning committee.'

A spokesperson for the council said, 'The only conditions we would ever impose are standard as part of the legal process. We did not impose or add anything to the previous conditions of sale.'

Upon being contacted by the Advertiser, Alloa Athletic released a statement saying they were disappointed and frustrated by the process of attempting to buy the leisure centre.

The statement also detailed that the Wasps previously offered to buy the building for £200,000 and were prepared to upgrade Zones for use by the wider community. The statement added that £40,000 would be granted per year over 10 years as part of a fund to the council for community and social provision.

The statement continued, 'We felt that at the very least some consideration should have been made to our offer and appropriate discussions should have taken place. We understand that this would be the case on any normal bidding process if the preferred bidder pulled out at an early date.

'We would understand if the council would choose not to have considered our offer after entering into some form of discussions, albeit exploratory. However when it is a question of public process we believed that the unsuccessful bids should have been put forward as the best bids available.'

When the question was asked at last week"s council meeting why no contact was made with other bidders after the Bradies withdrew their offer, the council"s head of administration and legal services, Peter Broadfoot, said, 'We are aware some of those that bid are still keen. There was a fair gap between the first and second offers. Normally we would (go to the second offer).'

SNP group leader Donald Balsillie said, 'In our opinion it should have gone to the second tender. We are disappointed at the whole process.'

It was agreed that all proceeds from the sale will go to the council"s leisure services.

Labour councillor Bobby McGill said, 'It is costing us money day in day out even though there is little use of it. If we don"t move it on it will keep on costing us money.'