SAVE The Magnum campaigners made their voices heard at Irvine’s Scottish Cabinet meeting last week as they continued their fight to save the leisure centre.

The group were given their chance to grill First Minister Alex Salmond and Deputy First Minister Nicola Sturgeon at the public meeting of the Scottish Cabinet at Irvine’s Volunteer Rooms last Tuesday.

With the debacle over the new multi-million pound centre rumbling on, local resident and Save The Magnum campaigner Robert Milligan addressed the First Minister to ask why he should trust the SNP if the party’s majority leadership in North Ayrshire Council would not hold a public meeting about the future of the soon-to-be closing centre.

Construction work has currently stalled on the highly controversial £20 million pound centre adjacent to the town house due to an ongoing enquiry by the Scottish Government into the stopping up of Jail Close, a road and footpath into the town centre which has closed as part of the works.

Mr Milligan claimed the council has not listened to local residents and insisted that the majority of people do not want the new facility in the town centre.

In response, local lass Nicola Sturgeon insisted she understood the emotional attachment to the centre but believes that once constructed, the new centre will have pride of place in the middle of the town She said: “I understand as well as anybody the emotional attachment of people to the Magnum. I grew up in the Magnum but I’ve seen over the years how the Magnum has been left to decay and deteriorate and I agree that should not have been allowed to happen.

“The councils down the decades should have invested more in the Magnum but even with investment in the Magnum the numbers would still be down. People have got other alternatives like sports centres all over the country so the Magnum might always have faced the difficulties it’s facing today.

“The decision was not taken by this SNP council administration it was taken by the last council administration in 2009 to close the Magnum and to rebuild a new centre across the road in the town centre.

“The rationale and logic for that is that not only does it replace some of the facilities at the Magnum but it does so in a way that allows it to be tied into town centre regeneration.

“I feel very strongly about that as someone who doesn’t live in this town anymore but comes back fairly regularly to visit, this town centre badly needs regeneration.

“I hope in a few years time if we were sitting here again then we’d have a new leisure facility that people feel as proud of as they were of the Magnum.

“I know that’s difficult for some people to imagine but that is what I hope will be the case.” Speaking to the Times after the Cabinet meeting, Robert said: “The fact of the matter remains that North Ayrshire Council will not listen to the people of Irvine. We have invited the council leader Willie Gibson and Matt Brown onto Irvine Beat FM to debate the issue with us but they won’t do it.

“My main points relate to the issues over the lack of car parking in the town centre and the problem with air pollution, where Irvine ranked as the sixth highest in Scotland.

“The majority of people in the town do not want this new leisure centre in the middle of the town and the council are not listening to local residents.”