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Alloa & Hillfoots Advertiser

Published: Wednesday, 24th June, 2009 2:06pm

Riding group seeking support for campaign

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VOLUNTEERS from the Forth Valley Riding for the Disabled Association (RDA) are calling on the people of Clackmannanshire to help them save the facility for the county.

As previously reported in the Advertiser, volunteers are up in arms that conditions at the equestrian centre have deteriorated so much that the RDA has been forced to relocate to Fife.

Volunteers met last week at Alloa Academy to discuss how they can bring the service back to the area to provide for those who can"t travel to Fife.

One volunteer told the Advertiser, 'I went into the meeting feeling positive and expected a number of local councillors to be there, but only one showed up, which left me a bit deflated. A lot of people have signed our petition and we need the public to back us. It is an amazing facility and it is being wasted.'

The group plans to meet again next week to put together a letter of complaint to send to Clackmannanshire Council.

The council don"t run the centre, though, as it is leased out, but chief executive Angela Leitch recently met the RDA and agreed to honour a previous commitment to mend a fence at a cost of £2500.

Now all the horses have been moved to Fife, the volunteers feel the only way they will ever be brought back is if the public gets behind them.

In the meantime, they have been supported by Tom Carruthers, manager of Devon Riding Centre, who has provided the group with a pony and stable facilities to allow them to continue running one of their classes over the coming months.

But he told the Advertiser the situation is 'disgraceful' and, if nothing was done, the area will lose a vitally important facility and service.

The group is run entirely by volunteers and they have around 30 riders who are supported by physiotherapists, six instructors and over 40 helpers.

The volunteers are urging Wee County residents to sign their petition to save the facility. A copy of the petition is available in Advertiser office.

Have your say. Post a comment on this article.

  • local resident
    Unregistered User
    Jul 8, 22:19
    Comment: 3536

    While I am completely sympathetic to the RDA and their problems with the Devon Leisure Park Equestrian Centre, theirs is not the only problem related to how the present lease holder is allowing what should be a significant leisure facility for the area to be a complete failure, and ultimately a derelict site.

    In the years since the facility was opened in 1992 it was always well utilised by several different groups, not all equestrian (whether or not it actually managed to run at a profit), until the council first awarded the contract to a company which failed totally to do anything at all with the site, and then compounded their folly by awarding the lease to the present incumbent, who seems hell-bent on running the facility into the ground for her own selfish reasons.

    There have been no significant events of note taking place, although in the past the centre was busy nearly every week-end, and frequently during the week also, with occasional large-scale events involving several hundred persons & horses staying on site for 3 days or more, with the obvious benefits this brought to local businesses.

    Under the present management regime, there has been no obvious maintenance, but emergency egress routes have been allowed to become overgrown or fenced off, shrubs have been allowed to partially block the road, fences/barriers have been placed over what were always freely accessible pathways, padlocked gates have been installed blocking access to what was previously an overspill car park & open grassy area, which has now had a wooden stable block erected, and vehicles have been semi-abandoned within the over-all area. The building itself frequently appears to be used as a glorified kennel, with dogs apparently left unattended inside for hours or days on end.

    Surely this is not what the council intended when they granted the lease? Was it not the intention that the centre be developed as somewhwere that would attract visitors to the area, after some initial investment on the part of the lease-holder?
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