There is set to be quite a tussle as different groups scramble to secure the Ships and Castles Leisure Centre site in Falmouth.

The future of four leisure centres in Cornwall is under threat including Falmouth's, with Launceston, Saltash, and Wadebridge also facing closure unless solutions can be found.

The closures have faced opposition from residents, as it would mean an end of facilities such as swimming pools which are used to provide swimming lessons for schools and clubs.

Groups have been formed in the towns affected, with land trust Ambos leading the way in Falmouth. They have put together a campaign to secure the site and prevent it from going to developers.

Set up in 2017, Ambos "promotes community-led placemaking and common-sense ways of living that increase resources sharing in the community."

Nub News caught up with Miguel Fernandez, Director of Ambos, who are the group involved in the ActiveFal campaign.

What are the hopes through the Active Fal campaign?

Ambos has no intention of running the site. Ambos is a land trust with the main objective being to capture the land with the purpose of it being decided by the community. That is locked in forever, if the community wants it to be for affordable leisure, then that's what it will be and it can't be sold to make a profit.

Ultimately it is about Ambos helping to find the local experts who care and have the passion to manage the site differently. GLL has run it as a national portfolio and people know it as GLL's but for us, it is about finding that group of people who can claim it as ours, Falmouth's site.

We called it Active Fal rather than Falmouth because it encompasses the river that goes through Penryn.

That is similar to how Ships and Castles runs now, it doesn't just serve Falmouth, it serves Penryn and other people coming in. The centre could also serve tourism and I don't think we should forget that as part of the business plan.

If we can diversify for the tourism in the quieter months and double the use as a tourist space and capture people coming out the castle. Together we can think of ways we can plug the current shortfall.

What is the current situation?

At the moment we are determining crews, it is obvious we need financial expertise, we need people that are familiar with business planning. We have had a couple of community members/residents

other stakeholders.

We will have a design crew, people will be there to update the website, and will be behind any literature that goes out, flyers, posters, the reports that come from the other crews.

We have thought long and hard about how we can enable a lot of people in the town to participate.

We don't represent the community we are the community.

If you as a member of the community believe that the land is ours and we belong to the land, and we should control that then there is a way for you to be active. We invite you to join a crew, and learn even if don't feel you have one of the professional skills. Take the crews as an opportunity to learn about community led development.

It's not people telling us their ideas and hoping we will listen; it is about mobilising them and giving them agency to genuinely feed in towards a business plan.

It's really a race against time to get everything in, what would you like to see happen in the community?

We need more people to join in. If we don't get that support from the community to say, "we want this into local ownership" or trust is just put into the council and governors to make a good decision, then that's fine because it tells us they don't want us to take stance on it.

Personally, I think there is little understanding of what a community land trust is, and what community-led development is.

People are so used to the current method of trying to get the council to do the right thing and their agency stops at that point. That has led to people thinking, is it worth it?

That was shown at the engagement in the first public meeting at La Peniche when we had quite a small number of people, that is a huge part of the conundrum, how do you get all the groups to come together and sing the same song?

If people did want to get involved with ActiveFal, what would be the best way for people to do it?

The best way to do it is to sign up online and become a member of the land trust which is £1. When you sign up there is a share offer, that pound is a share in the organisation which allows people to attend all the meetings. It allows you to be part of a crew and have a say in the decisions.

You can vote yourself on the board, and bring forward ideas for new crews, new projects. The more people we have the better chance we have of creating a resilient community.

Regular Active Fal progress updates are being held every Sunday at La Peniche Falmouth Cafe & Bistro until further notice from 6pm-8pm.

Click here for more news and updates from Ambos.

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