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Community facilities at the new Arran High School have been criticised as ‘pretty damn useless’.
The Arran Banner has received several complaints about the community area, built to replace Lamlash Community Centre.
North Ayrshire Leisure said it had noted the comments and hoped to address the problems.
Two weeks ago community groups using the centre attended an open night at the new school. Fifty people turned up and their reaction was mixed. The community part of the new building is operated by North Ayrshire Leisure and will be known as a KA Campus in line with other North Ayrshire facilities.
After the open night Maurice Deighton of Arran Hospital Supporters League said: ‘As a school it is brilliant but maybe not as a village hall. The meeting rooms aren’t big enough and there don’t seem to be any tables.’
Musician Terry Stevens of Lamlash fronts local bands Neat Malt and the Boguillie Band. He said: ‘I went along with a totally open mind but they have spoilt the theatre for a ha’porth of tar. The building is fine for a school but for a community facility it is pretty damn useless. The theatre looks very impressive with lovely lighting but that’s where it ends. There are no facilities for on-stage monitoring so that musicians can hear their own sound level. Any artist worth his salt would need this.’
John Barraclough of Brodick is a member of the Community Theatre Steering Group and works the sound and lighting. He said: ‘It’s a very nice school but it’s not a community theatre. It’s absolutely hopeless for operating sound and lights. You’ve got to stand on tiptoe in the control room to see out. The lighting installation is superb except for the spotlights, which should be mounted at the back of the seating. They have given us tripods which will have to go on a temporary plywood platform over some seats. For the drama festival in February we will have to use our own sound and light desk from the auditorium floor. There will be cables strung everywhere.’
John MacMillan is senior development officer for North Ayrshire Leisure and on Tuesday invited the Banner to tour the community facilities with him.
He said: ‘North Ayrshire Leisure had no input into the building. We have inherited it and have got to run it. There are bound to be certain gripes to begin with. I will be speaking to the contractors and the PPP team to see what can be done.’
He said hire charges were much cheaper than at other North Ayrshire schools and that the theatre and fitness suite were ‘the best of all the new schools by a mile’.
The first real test of KA Campus Arran will come at the annual drama festival on 20 February.
Next week the Banner’s Howard Driver reports in detail on the community facilities.
