Two leisure centres in Gateshead are set to be shut down next month – but there are hopes that their closures will only be short-lived.
Gateshead Leisure Centre and Birtley Swimming Centre will shut their doors on July 21 because of council budget cuts, if plans are signed off by local authority leaders next week. However, community efforts to save both sites could allow them to reopen again in a matter of months.
Controversial plans to slash leisures services in Gateshead have been in the works since last year and have sparked outrage among locals left facing the prospect of losing much-loved centres that have been part of their community for decades. Civic centre bosses have argued that they cannot afford to keep running their centres as they are, with the area’s publicly-owned facilities said to be overspending their annual budget by around £2m, but admitted that the closures would be "devastating".
