Councillors will tomorrow decide on proposals to trial the Sunday opening of Lewis Sports Centre.
The Families into Sport for Health (FiSH) group says that it is the duty of the local authority to open the facility at times more suitable to families, bringing Lewis in line with Barra and South Uist.
The plans will be considered by members of the Policy and Resources Committee at a meeting starting at 9.30am tomorrow.
The council has said that if a trial Sunday opening is approved then it would be for a minimum of three hours and for a twelve-month period.
However, a report by chief executive Malcolm Burr to go before the committee recommends that an immediate Sunday opening is “not operationally feasible”.
The report states that formal consultation would be required with employees over changes to their terms and conditions.
And it states that there would be a financial risk of about £11,000 when balancing staffing, cleaning and overtime costs against estimated extra income from current users.
It adds: “It is possible that opening on Sunday would lead to an increase in Slàinte Mhath memberships. To cover the £11.4k shortfall would require an increase in membership income, equivalent to 38 family memberships or 51 individual memberships. It is not possible to assess whether this would be achieved prior to any trial period.”
FiSH distributed a survey in 2015 which they claim showed 71% of Lewis Sport Centre users were in support of the Sunday opening.
Elma Macleod, a long time campaigner for a seven-day service and member of FiSH, said the evidence was “overwhelming” for the change and that there is “strong evidence” to show it would be well used, especially in winter.