Delight as ‘priceless’ Tain Royal Academy Community Complex (TRACC) gets five-year reprieve
A FACILITY described as the “cornerstone” of an Easter Ross community has been given a five-year breathing space.
As exclusively revealed earlier this month by the Ross-shire Journal, a £1.2m investment will protect the closure-threatened Tain Royal Academy Community Complex (TRACC), which houses the area’s only swimming pool.
The 50-year-old facility has been given an extended lifespan thanks to investment agreed by Highland Council as part of the ambitious Highland Investment Plan.
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The deal was agreed in a Highland Council vote yesterday.
The motion agreed stated: “Agree that capital funding of £1.2m is allocated to enable the Tain Royal Academy Community Complex (TRACC) to be retained as a separate, standalone building for a period of up to five years once the new Tain Campus building is operational.”
The new Tain school campus for children aged three to 18 is expected to open in February 2026.
Speaking after the move was rubber-stamped, Tain and Easter Ross councillor Laura Dundas, who alongside fellow ward councillor Maureen Ross and their former colleague, Derek Louden, campaigned for TRACC, said: “There’s no doubt the Highland Investment Plan is offering a much-needed opportunity to invest in the roads, schools and infrastructure that our communities expect and deserve so they can go about their daily lives with ease dignity and access without additional financial burden.”
She went on: “TRACC is a cornerstone of our community and it has been for over 50 years. We could not accept for the lights to go out and the doors to close when our new campus opens in February without the opportunity of putting a new sports facility in place.”
She said all are aware of the benefits of public sports facilities which help combat heart disease and obesity and much more “at times when the NHS waiting lists are challenging and mental health crises are deepening, facilities like TRACC are not just amenities they are preventative tools. Beyond physical health the social impacts are profound”.
She told the full council meeting: “Our young people need a safe and structured environment and TRACC provides this. It keeps them off the streets, away from antisocial behaviour and engaged in something positive. It teaches teamwork, discipline and resilience and somewhere they can build friendships andf their confidence.
“It’s also about inclusion. TRACC welcomes everyone from toddlers, children, young adults, pensioners, athletes, and those with disabilities. It’s a place where people feel they belong and in an age of isolation and loneliness that sense of belonging is priceless. So I commend the recommendations here.”
Education chairman John Finlayson said: “We need to be providing new and upgraded sporting facilities in my opinion right across the Highlands.”
He went on: “I’d like to give my backing to the allocation to enable to enable the Tain TRACC facility to be retained so that stakeholders can plan what they do next.
“The results of a consultation process that took place in Tain around TRACC have to be honoured and the consultation process shows that people really are interested and I think councillors Ross and Dundas should be congratulated on re reflective and proactive way they have worked with their community to get to the stage we are now at.”