A FORMAL consultation programme is set to start this month on plans for a wellbeing hub in the west of Alloa progress.

Elected representatives are due to hear an update on Clackmannanshire Council's Wellbeing Hub and Lochies School Project at a meeting on Thursday, March 21, with the agenda featuring a number of proposed consultation events in the coming weeks.

Set to replace the ageing former Alloa Leisure Bowl, a formal pre-application has been submitted for the hub along with a Proposal of Application Notice (PAN) earlier this month.

It is proposed that formal consultation events will start at Alloa Town Hall on Wednesday, March 27, from 3pm to 7pm.

Ground investigations commenced at the site of the development in the west of Alloa, known as the Pavilions, on a greenfield site off Smithfield Loan, earlier in January.

Risk workshops have also been held with project teams while discussions and preparation have also started on the construction phasing and delivery strategy for the project.

An outline programme for construction is expected by the end of April.

The hub, which will be built alongside a new Lochies School, will aim to provide spaces for learning, leisure and sport – including swimming pools, a range of indoor and outdoor spaces for socialising as well as a state of the art school for ASN learners.

Further public consultation events are proposed at Tillicoultry Primary School on Thursday, March 28, from 3.30pm to 7pm; Alloa Town Hall on Tuesday, April 16; and again at Tillicoultry PS on April 18.

A virtual town hall will also be created online for the public to access and review documents and leave feedback – current plans are to make this accessible from March 20.

Alloa and Hillfoots Advertiser:

A report from the consultation events will be prepared to be included with the detailed planning application in the future.

Meanwhile, a co-design group has also met four times since November 2023 to learn about how the project is progressing and to give feedback.

The group is made up of a range of people with lived experience and council teams with sessions themed around topics such as mobility and accessibility features, landscaping and open space design, entrance design and more.

School pupils were also last October encouraged to enter a competition, in partnership with the Futures Institute at Dollar Academy (FIDA), and design an outdoor space as part of the project.

Top entrants, including a particularly strong response from Alloa Academy, will receive a half-day workshop to progress plans to a concept design before an overall winner is selected for a further work-shadowing or mentoring opportunity with the design team.

Councillors will be asked to note the progress on Thursday, March 21.