Campaigners have threatened a council with legal action over the “unjustifiable” closure of two leisure centres.
It was confirmed on Tuesday morning that Gateshead Council will shut down the Gateshead Leisure Centre in Saltwell and the Birtley Swimming Centre on July 21 – though it is hoped that both can subsequently be transferred into community ownership and reopened. But local residents who have protested against the closures have warned the local authority that they could mount a legal challenge.
In a letter seen by the Local Democracy Reporting Service, the Save Leisure Gateshead group calls the shuttering of the facilities “unfair, irrational and simply wrong” – saying it leaves them “no option but to be willing to bring challenges if necessary”.
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Since the prospect of the closures first emerged last October, there have been major concerns over the impact on people’s physical and mental health in some of the North East’s most deprived areas. And Tuesday’s decision to shut them down without deals to hand them over to new, community-led ownership being completed, plus doing so just as the school summer holidays are about to start, has provoked a new backlash.
Save Leisure Gateshead told the council that the removing leisure provision this summer would be “devastating for families” and will result in a “complete dearth of venues and activities”.
Their letter, which was sent to the council ahead of Tuesday’s decisive cabinet meeting, states: “We urge you to review your position, including the processes you have followed and the recommendations made, as a matter of urgency. It is in the best interests of the council to address the above concerns and correct its position now rather than plough on to make an unjustifiable decision and face ongoing legal challenges and the significant time and cost commitment they entail.”
The campaigners have long questioned the validity of the matrix used by the council to make its decisions on which centres to close – claiming that the use of negative scoring produced an “unduly and unjustifiably negative effect on Gateshead Leisure Centre” and that the public support for the Bensham site, the best used in the entire borough, was “not given due regard or weighting”. They also claim the council’s decision contradicts its health policy and that there has been “no attempt to justify the dates for closure of the sites, which seem to be entirely arbitrary”.
A council spokesperson said: “The council has received the letter from Save Leisure Gateshead this week; it has been noted and a response will be sent to the group in due course. We have engaged with them during the period of review and several points have been addressed during these engagements or at cabinet.”
The local authority has argued that escalating running costs and austerity cuts to its budget have made maintaining all of its leisure centres unaffordable. Officials say that the Saltwell and Birtley sites must be closed in July because of staff shortages at other leisure centres, which would otherwise result in short-notice closures around the area this summer.
No jobs will be lost from the centres’ closure, with all staff being transferred to work at the council’s other leisure sites.
Gateshead’s director of public health Alice Wiseman said: “Today’s decision is extremely regrettable and has not been recommended without very careful consideration. I appreciate the impact this will have on our local communities and completely understand their concerns, but due to our difficult financial situation we are simply unable to keep running these sites whilst delivering our essential services.”
