Two council-run leisure centres in Gateshead will be shut down next month due to budget cuts, it has been confirmed.
Gateshead Leisure Centre and Birtley Swimming Centre will be closed by Gateshead Council on July 21, after the local authority’s cabinet signed off on the controversial move. However, it is hoped that both facilities can still be saved and reopened in the coming months.
Talks are progressing over a transfer of the two centres into community ownership, which could see them brought back into use. At a meeting of the Labour-run local authority’s cabinet on Tuesday, council bosses were accused of mismanagement and of running the centres “into the ground” since 2015.