Unions have called the impending closure of two leisure centres in Gateshead “incredibly difficult” – but welcomed the end of “inhumane” redundancy fears for their staff.
Gateshead Council agreed on Tuesday that it will close down the Gateshead Leisure Centre in Saltwell and the Birtley Swimming Centre on July 21 due to budget cuts. While it is hoped that both will ultimately be reopened once deals are finalised to transfer them into community ownership, the decision to shut them now has been met with sadness and anger from locals.
It means that the two centres will be lost just as the school summer holidays begin, while there have also been concerns about members giving up their leisure memberships and not returning once the sites do reopen. But Labour council chiefs insist they cannot afford to keep running the sites, with Gateshead’s leisure facilities running £1.4m over budget, and that the July closures are needed to ensure that employees can be redeployed and prevent the remaining centres being short-staffed this summer.
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No jobs are being lost by axeing the Saltwell and Birtley centres, with staff instead being moved across to the council’s other facilities – which include those in Heworth, Blaydon, and Dunston.
In a submission made to the council ahead of Tuesday’s cabinet meeting, unions said that nobody wanted to see any centres close – but called for an end to a saga that has seen 166 leisure staff working with the threat of redundancy hanging over them since last October. They added that the process had caused “tremendous stress” for workers and that it was “inhumane to extend the acute anxiety”.
GMB union organiser Stuart Gilhespy told the Local Democracy Reporting Service on Wednesday: “It has put members in a very worrying position, they have been extremely worried since it all started. But the news that there are going to be no redundancies and that risk has been withdrawn means that they can move on now.”
He added: “Any loss of local amenities is really bad. I think it stems from the lack of funding from central government, which people are now starting to see the impact of in reality because local councils are having to pick and choose what they can afford.
“It is not good to see leisure centres close, but at the same time the council have managed to ensure that there are no redundancies.”
Austerity cuts have seen Gateshead Council’s annual budget slashed by £179m since 2010. It is expected that the council will procure an outside operator to take over the running of its remaining leisure centres.
Mr Gilhespy said he would not personally be in favour of sites being outsourced, but was “not daft enough to think that will not be the case” given the local authority’s financial situation.
UNISON’s northern regional secretary Clare Williams, said: “Whilst it is hoped that the centres can be saved, the lack of fair funding for local government forced on councils by Tory austerity, has led to these incredibly difficult decisions being made. It is disappointing that the council so proactively moved to setting up community interest companies, as leisure services should be part of an integrated public health service.
“UNISON welcomes the removal of the ‘at risk’ status of our members in leisure services, after a prolonged period of uncertainty and is grateful that their jobs have been secured during this cost-of-living crisis.”
Council leader Martin Gannon said that Tuesday’s decision had been made “with a heavy heart”. He added: “We’ve had no choice after government cuts to funding, we’ve used our reserves to sustain the leisure centres during the extension to the consultation period – these funds are not infinite.
“We will continue to put every effort into supporting the community asset transfer groups to ensure they are able to present a viable business plan. The plans which the community groups have presented to us are really exciting, they’ve filled me with hope that these centres will reopen as thriving hubs of the community.”
A Gateshead Active group set up to save the Gateshead Leisure Centre is hopeful of completing a deal to reopen it in the autumn, while Gateshead and Whickham Swimming Club and the Birtley Swimming Club are working together to take over the Birtley pool.
