The closure of two leisure centres in Gateshead could be signed off next week – but council officials have changed their minds about which ones should be axed.
Gateshead Leisure Centre, Dunston Leisure Centre, and the Birtley sports hall had been named as the sites under greatest threat of shutting down under council budget cut plans, which have sparked an outcry over recent months. But new documents now reveal that the authority’s proposals have changed, after a public consultation that generated more than 7,000 responses from concerned locals.
The large leisure centre in Saltwell is still earmarked for closure, having been deemed the greatest financial burden on the council’s struggling leisure services, but the other site now joining it on the chopping block is the Birtley Swimming Centre. The Durham Road pool has now been deemed the second most unsustainable in the borough, in a revised study.
Read More: Campaigners plead with council to delay decision on 'tragic' Gateshead leisure centre closures
Both facilities could shut on March 31 this year, if plans are agreed next week. The council’s Labour cabinet meets next Tuesday, January 24, to make the final decision.
The Dunston site, which is home to the Gateshead and Whickham Swimming Club and the Gateshead Synchronised Swimming Club, and the Birtley sports hall both look set to be saved. A report to the cabinet calls closing Gateshead Leisure Centre and Birtley Swimming Centre the “only option that achieves the objectives of the review”.
However, the recommendations being put to the cabinet next week also include a commitment to explore letting community organisations take over some sites.
The report states that the council is in “at the very early stages” of talks with local groups interested in a community asset transfer for Gateshead Leisure Centre and Dunston Leisure Centre, while a commercial organisation has shown interest in Birtley Leisure Centre. A deadline of March 31, 2024 has been set for those negotiations to come to fruition, though the closures this March could go ahead regardless.
Campaigners have been pleading with the council for months to put a stop to the leisure centre closures, fearing a devastating impact on people’s physical and mental health as a result. Local MPs, sports clubs, residents, and ChronicleLive have joined forces in calls for the Government to step in with funding to save the centres.
And there have been pleas for next week’s cabinet decision to be pushed back to a full council meeting in February, where the town’s Liberal Democrat opposition plan to table £2.1m proposals to keep all the leisure centres open for 12 months while an expert taskforce develops plans to make them financially sustainable.
Meanwhile, a coalition of organisations including Swim England and the Local Government Association warned this week that a lack of Government help with energy bills would be the “final straw” for pools and leisure centres across the country that will “impact millions of people, of all ages, abilities, and backgrounds”. Gateshead Council says that attempts since 2015 to make its leisure services self-sustaining have failed and that they are expected to overspend their budget by around £2m this year, while also requiring £14.5m of maintenance over the next two decades.
It is also claimed in the report to next Tuesday’s cabinet that there is “no evidence” that the council’s leisure centres are used by those in greatest need of them. It states: “It could, therefore, be argued that the current funding of leisure services does not fully support the council’s policy priority set out in Making Gateshead a Place Where Everyone Thrives (“the Thrive agenda”), and it could actually create inequality, as some of our residents are excluded as they are unable to pay to use the leisure centre facilities.”
Read More:
- Lib Dems push for £2.1m 'lifeline' for troubled Gateshead leisure centres
- 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
- Protest over Gateshead leisure centre closures as campaigners vow to 'fight back' against cuts
- MPs warn of 'untold long-term consequences' if Gateshead leisure centres are shut down
