Galway Bay fm newsroom – Over 2,100 people from the Ballinfoile and Castlegar areas have signed a petition demanding that the new Ballinfoile/Castlegar Neighbourhood Centre be maintained as a public facility.
The City Council is to vote on the management of the centre at a meeting on the 14th of March – and campaigners are organising a public meeting ahead of that date.
Local residents say discussions have taken place recently with council officials, and a number of key concerns have already been addressed.
These include fears over peak hours, community representation on a board of management, and a guarantee that there will be no privitisation of the centre.
Residents say their focus is to keep the facility under council management in association with the local community, and to ensure that its annual council funding allocation is not reduced.
Residents’ spokesperson Brendan Smith says locals have fought for 30 years for this indoor community complex.