Fife’s leading provider of sports and leisure services has taken the first tentative steps towards reopening facilities.
Fife Sports and Leisure Trust has announced some of its synthetic turf pitches (STPs) will be open from Monday.
Local club players will be welcomed back to Dalgety Bay Leisure Centre, Cupar Leisure Centre, Michael Woods Sports and Leisure Centre in Glenrothes and Lumphinanns Sports Hub for a limited time period as the trust awaits the green light to start its wider re-opening programme.
Bookings are being accepted for a four-week period for juniors from August 17 to September 13 and a three-week period for adults from August 24 to September 13.
The trust is warning dates will be subject to change in line with any announcements from the Scottish Government, while changing rooms and toilets will still be out of bounds for the time being.
Scott Urquhart, sports and physical activity team manager for Fife Sports and Leisure Trust, said: “Our teams have been working hard to get our centres up and running with the highest health and safety protocols in place, and, despite not being able to open our indoor facilities, we are very pleased to be in a position to welcome bookings for our STPs.
“We are following measures set out by the Scottish Football Association and will require anyone making a booking to provide contact information for track and trace purposes. Access currently will be restricted to the outdoor pitches only while changing rooms and toilets remain closed.
“The use of the pitches is restricted to registered clubs at the moment and they will be required to adhere to Covid-19 track and trace obligations, but, we are hopeful we will open access to casual bookings in the near future.”
Recently, the trust has been frustrated by a further delay in its phased re-opening of its leisure centres and is warning that the loss of six month’s income will have a serious impact on the organisation.
It is backing the #saveleisure campaign run by Community Leisure UK, the umbrella organisation which represents non-profiting distributing leisure trusts, which is highlighting that nearly half of all public leisure facilities in the UK face permanent closure by the end of the year unless local authorities receive urgent ring-fenced funding from the government.
The trust’s wider re-opening programme will see Michael Woods Sports and Leisure Centre in Glenrothes, Carnegie Leisure Centre and Pitreavie Athletics Centre, in Dunfermline and Kirkcaldy Leisure Centre opening doors first, followed by East Sands Leisure Centre, Levenmouth Swimming Pool and Sports Centre, Cowdenbeath Leisure Centre and Dalgety Bay Leisure Centre.
The next phase will see Duloch Leisure Centre, Cupar Leisure Centre, Bowhill Swimming Pool and Waterstone Crook Leisure Centre welcoming customers, followed by the Beacon Leisure Centre.
