CAMPAIGNERS are hoping to force a local authority to open its swimming pools and sports centres on a Sunday – despite its hardline stance on respecting the Sabbatarian traditions.
Western Isles Council has been reported to the Scottish public services ombudsman over its refusal to open up its arts and leisure facilities in Lewis and Harris on the Sabbath.
In the space of a week, more than 200 residents have backed an onlin
e petition which claims the council may be in breach of European human rights and equality legislation.
The council opens up other leisure facilities on the likes of Barra and South Uist, while it has also granted a number of licences to allow alcohol to be sold in Lewis and Harris on Sundays.
Among the facilities which remain closed on the Sabbath are the new leisure centres in Stornoway, on Lewis, and Tarbert, on Harris, several all-weather football pitches and tennis courts, and the new An Lantair arts centre, in Stornoway.
In an unprecedented move two years ago, health professionals issued a public plea to lift the Sabbath ban on council-owned sports centres.
The Western Isles Health Board's coronary heart disease group has branded it "bizarre" that people can drink alcohol in a hotel on Sundays, but not exercise in a sports centre.
Two members of the group, George and Elma Macleod, have sent a message to all councillors asking them reconsider the Sunday ban.
Mrs Macleod said: "Western Isles Health Board prescribes the highest number of obesity pills in Scotland and the incidence of coronary heart disease is at its highest ever.
"Why then are the residents of Lewis and Harris denied the pleasure of enjoying the same facilities on 50 per cent of the weekend as their friends and neighbours in Uist and Barra, who have been provided with sports facilities seven days a week for many years?"
A spokesman for the council said it would co-operate with the ombudsman and respond to the complaint "in due course".
But he said opening the centres would have "an adverse effect in the local amenity" – and the ban was nothing to do with religious reasons.
John Scott, a human rights lawyer, said: "These campaigners may well have some grounds for a case on the basis of discrimination.
"It does seem inconsistent for the council to open some facilities and not others. It doesn't appear to be operating a blanket policy."
Members of Stornoway Golf Club have made a number of unsuccessful bids to have a ban on Sunday playing overturned.
The course's landlord, the Stornoway Trust, recently said it was "not inclined to accept" the application from the club.
Members of the club's management committee are considering whether to take legal action.
Islanders are also running a campaign to have Sunday ferries running to and from Lewis for the first time.
The ferry operator Caledonian MacBrayne has so far resisted calls to start operating the service until the council offers its backing officially.
The full article contains 505 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
