COST-cutting plans to take libraries, museums, public halls and community centres out of direct Scottish Borders Council control and transfer them to a charitable trust by October this year look certain to be delayed.

It follows confirmation this week that these so-called cultural services – which employ around 200 staff and cost the council nearly £5m a year to run – could now be absorbed into the Borders Sport and Leisure Trust (BSLT).

If the move goes ahead, the BSLT, which already runs 14 sports facilities including six swimming pools and several leisure centres, will have a combined annual budget of around £12m.

It is seven years since the council first approved in principle the transfer of all its non-statutory cultural services to a stand-alone trust which would benefit from 95% remission in non-domestic rates and thus save SBC around £400,000 a year.

Since then that process has been dogged by delays, not least because of the sheer size and diversity of the cultural services portfolio which accounts for about 10% of the entire council estate of land and buildings.

Ownership issues over assets which are held in common good funds or are already run by ad hoc trusts have also muddied the waters.

But the pressing financial need for the transfer was stressed last year when the plans were put out to public consultation with the warning that, if the switch did not go ahead, then one large hall, one main library, one museum and one community centre could be forced to close in the Borders.

The public were thus told that to maintain the facilities into the future, the status quo was not an option and a date of October, 2015, was set for the transfer.

It now transpires that councillors met in private in November and agreed to approach the BSLT, created 12 years ago, to discuss the potential feasibility of an integrated sport and cultural trust.

A formal request was made in those terms in December to the BSLT which convened a special meeting of its 12 trustees last Monday and agreed to enter a dialogue with the council.

The terms of reference on what happens next will be discussed at a full council meeting tomorrow (Thursday) with a recommendation that the fine detail of the integration proposal should be delegated, on the council’s side, to leader David Parker, Councillor Vicky Davidson, executive member for culture, sport, youth and communities, and Rob Dickson, SBC’s corporate transformation and services director.

A report on the agreed arrangements will come back to the council in October which means the date for implementation of a transfer – and the realisation of savings to SBC – is likely to be delayed by at least three months.

The pros and cons of integration are highlighted in a report by the council’s cultural services manager Ian Brown.

He advises that an integrated trust will be able to take advantage of economies of scale, with the BSLT already having finance, payroll and IT functions in place. Cultural services would also benefit from having a single board of trustees, a higher profile with the public and the ability to share business activities including marketing, branding and public relations.

“BSLT has a proven track record, has charitable status and would not face the same challenges of a new trust,” says Mr Brown. “This is valuable experience that can be drawn on.” However, he cautions that the arrangement would involve “integrating two groups of staff from different business cultures”, adding: “Both groups must be fully integrated to succeed.” “Sport and leisure has more income-generating potential than culture and steps would have to taken to ensure the BSLT is not financially threatened by the less commercial aspects of culture.

“There is also the challenge of balancing the needs of culture and sport to ensure both meet their objectives.

“There will need to be the right mix of skills within the management team and trustees to do this.” Commenting ahead of tomorrow’s meeting, Councillor Davidson insisted that there was still a “viable business case” for cultural services to be transferred to a stand-alone trust.

“However, it is prudent to take the time to investigate the feasibility of establishing an integrated sport and cultural services trust,” she said.

“Historically most councils operated a leisure and recreation department, so sport and cultural services staff are used to working together under a single management team.” She said seven joint culture and sports trusts already existed in Scotland.

“Their experience points to this being a very successful model which could be replicated in the Borders,” she added.