Campaigners desperate to save Gateshead’s leisure centres from the “tragic” threat of closure are calling for a decision on their future to be pushed back.
Council bosses have been urged to delay a verdict that could see at least two of the town’s leisure facilities shut down after being deemed too expensive to run. The Gateshead Leisure Centre in Saltwell, the Dunston Leisure Centre, and Birtley’s sports hall have been identified as those at greatest risk from the budget-cutting proposals, which have provoked outrage among locals.
Gateshead Council chiefs have insisted that, unless the Government is willing to step in with funding to secure the sites’ future, they will have “no option” but to decide to axe some of their leisure services at a meeting later this month. But opponents of the idea now want that ruling postponed, saying that the “huge public interest” in the future of the at-risk leisure centres warrants a vote at the local authority’s annual budget-setting full council meeting on February 23 – instead of being signed off by Labour cabinet members on January 24.
Read More: Protest over Gateshead leisure centre closures as campaigners vow to 'fight back' against cuts
It comes after Liberal Democrat councillors this week put forward proposals for the council to fund a £2.1m “lifeline” that would cover the centres’ losses for another year, allowing time for an expert taskforce to develop plans to make them financially sustainable for the long term. The Save Leisure Gateshead group, which staged a protest outside the civic centre last month, has backed the Lib Dem plan.
Campaigner Neil Coram said that “every lever should be pulled, every button pressed and every option explored” before any centres are condemned to closure. Steven Thornton, a trustee at the Gateshead FC Foundation, added: “This makes total sense and allows appropriate time for an in-depth consultation to take place and the time to come up with a workable solution to save all the leisure facilities in Gateshead.”
However, the council said that delaying its decision was “not optional” because of the amount of money it is losing on the centres. A spokesperson told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: “When the initial report was taken to cabinet in October 2023 the overspend on Gateshead Council Leisure services was already £2.3m, this is continuing to rise at a rate that the council can no longer sustain.
"Regrettably a decision on the future of the service is time sensitive in order to curtail spending and delaying a decision to February is not optional. In order to address inequalities, we must focus our efforts on providing more accessible, inclusive and affordable opportunities to exercise for all of our residents, regardless of their circumstances.”
Labour council leader Martin Gannon said earlier this week that his cabinet would consider possible options to “save as much of our leisure service as possible”, but would have no option but to make cuts without immediate Government support.
More than 7,000 people responded to a council consultation on the proposed closures, which the council say will be needed as leisure services are overspending their budget by more than £2m a year and efforts to make them self-sustaining have failed. The council has had its budget slashed by £179m since 2010 and is facing a financial black hole of £55m over the next five years.
But there have been major fears about the resulting impact on people’s physical and mental health in some of the North East’s poorest communities. Local GP Dr Katy Woodcock, a partner at Fell Cottage Surgery, said the loss of leisure centres would be “fundamentally negative”.
Alisdair Cameron, of mental health service Recoco, said: “Access to exercise and physical activity in a safe social setting is a core requirement for people’s wellbeing, their physical health and their mental health. Gateshead’s provision is literally lifesaving for many, including a lot of people unable to access anywhere else. To lose it would have long-lasting negative, even tragic, consequences.”
Read More:
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- Inside Gateshead Leisure Centre: Staff and members reveal fears for facility under threat of closure
- More than 7,000 people have their say on plans to shut down leisure centres in Gateshead
- 'We can’t go anywhere else' - Swimming clubs fear they will fold if Dunston pool shuts down
- MPs warn of 'untold long-term consequences' if Gateshead leisure centres are shut down
