The first salvos were fired last night in the battle for Bryntysilio, Walsall Council’s outdoor activity centre in Wales.

Anyone attending the Community Scrutiny and Performance Panel could be forgiven for wondering what all the fuss was about as councillor after councillor waxed lyrically about the benefits to the children and young people of Walsall which come from the “Bryntysilo Experience”, me included.

Further analysis of what was said shows that for some those benefits are outweighed by the rising cost of keeping such a facility and certainly those costs were dwelt on at length by the short report accompanying this item on the agenda, in fact, the report contained precious little else!

It’s pretty obvious that Bryntysilio is on someone’s radar as a sacrifice worth taking in the fight to save £13m-£14m on next years Budget.

A working party has been set up to look into Bryntsilio and how other local authorities fair in providing outdoor activity services to their children and young people. Neighbouring authorities such as Sandwell with its centre at Plas Gwynant and Staffordshire CC with its centre at Shrugborough were mentioned though little information was provided in the report.

It is clear that there are issues surrounding Bryntysilio as maintenance costs loom large. Walsall Council does not own Bryntysilio, it leases it from a trust. Attempts at attracting outside funding such as the Lottery have till now been fruitless as it is situated in Wales but provides facilities for English kids. This and other issues need to be addressed by the working party over the coming weeks.

Some councillors said they “had an open mind” on the subject. I’ve not. I think facilities such as Bryntysilio are an important part of the life experiences which should be available to our children and young people, but if Bryntysilio is to survive it’s going to take more than just having a passion for the place. Answers to those questioning the viability of the place have to be found.