Protest against the closure of Moray's only ice rink #MorayLeisureCentre

National World

Hundreds gathered at Moray Leisure Centre on Tuesday to protest the announced closure of the region's only ice rink.

Transcript

00:00Could rising energy costs spell the end for a popular Scottish ice rink?

00:08Murray's own ice rink is closing as the owners say they are unable to battle rising energy costs.

00:14The board of Elgin's Murray Leisure Centre announced its difficult decision yesterday,

00:18arguing that the site is no longer financially viable.

00:21The rink now closes permanently on August 4th.

00:25It's the centre's biggest energy consumer, but they say it's the least profitable feature.

00:31Running costs have doubled, putting the whole operation at risk.

00:34As well as this, the centre say only 10% of users are skaters or curlers.

00:39For years, the centre supported the rink, but now it's just too costly.

00:43They added that a small number of roles are at risk of redundancy as a result of the closure.

00:47Community leaders like local MSP Richard Lockhead are fighting for solutions.

00:52He's reached out to the Scottish Government for help.

00:55Meanwhile, local MP Graham Ledbetter says he wants the council to find ways to keep it open.

01:01No one wants to lose this loved facility without a fight.

01:04That's why dozens have today gathered outside the Murray Leisure Centre in a plea for it to remain open.

01:10They have now went inside and there are many shouts of save our ice rink.

01:19It's really sad because we train here like six times a week, so it's a huge part of our lives.

01:25So if it's gone, then it's obviously a big part of it.

01:29Yeah, we'll have to travel unaware to get to the closest rink.

01:34And Inverness isn't open all the time either, so there'll be lots of travelling and even more money than we already spend to be here.

01:44At the moment we're facing a significant energy bill that we can't pay.

01:53We've got electricity and gas bills that we're unable to pay.

01:56Our tariff went up between March and April and we're now facing a projected energy bill this year

02:03that's not sustainable within the operation of the building.

02:06So our costs have doubled, our energy costs have doubled, and we can't find a way of being able to pay those bills.

02:14The facility has to train solvently, to trade solvently, and we're unable to do that to the end of the year.

02:20Because of that, the only way we can save energy or reduce our energy consumption quickly is to stop making ice,

02:26which uses a huge amount of energy, and the ice rink doesn't generate a substantial amount of revenue.

02:31The overall building is incredibly busy.

02:33There's lots of users using it, and the car park's full at the moment.

02:36And we've generally used the overall income to subsidise what's happened in the ice rink.

02:41But the rising energy costs has just got beyond us, and we're unable to do that.

02:46And we had to make a decision so that we could continue to trade to the end of the year.

02:53There has been so many options for him to consider.

02:57We sat last night and gave him so many options to decide, and everything was shot down.

03:02Everything was shot down. Everything. There was nothing that he was even willing to consider.

03:07It was always, we'll discuss it later, but we're here for a meeting now.

03:10We need answers now. We can't wait a month or two. We need to have the answers now.

03:15We're also part of Caledonia Eye Skating Club, which recently won in partnership with UHI Murray.

03:20So that actually came through about a couple of weeks ago, so who knows where that's going to be.

03:24But that was going to be something amazing for our club and for our young people and skaters.

03:27So it's very sad.

03:29I can imagine your children were disappointed as well when they found out about it. How was that for them?

03:33Dead staying.

03:34Tears. They're dead staying.

03:35They're wondering what they're going to do next. Like, this is such a main part of their life.

03:39They're down here like three, four times a week, five times a week.

03:42Like, they're missing out on going out with their friends at night because they choose to do this sport,

03:47and they want to come down. Like, my daughter will go out with her friends and come back in to come down here.

03:52Like, it's what they choose to do.

03:55My daughter tried everything. She tried dancing, she tried gymnastics.

03:58Until she finally found figure skating, she never stuck anything else.

04:02And this is what she stuck up.

04:04I don't think there's any hope that the rink can remain open.

04:07We'll fight.

04:08We absolutely will fight.

04:09We're not going down. I'm not willing to admit that they're closing it for good. Not a chance.

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