Michael Gove has been urged to intervene to save a Tyneside leisure centre from being shut down.
It was revealed this week that two facilities in Gateshead, the Gateshead Leisure Centre in Saltwell and the Dunston Leisure Centre, are both under serious threat after council bosses deemed the town’s current services “unaffordable”. While a final decision on the sites’ future is not expected until January, the council has warned that it is “critical” that some centres are closed down and that the Saltwell and Dunston sites “appear to be least sustainable and therefore more at risk” – and potentially the sports hall at Birtley Leisure Centre too.
More than 500 people have already signed a petition organised by Saltwell councillor Robert Waugh, which pleads with the Government to “give Gateshead the money it needs to save these vital services”. Coun Waugh, who is Gateshead’s deputy mayor, said he would be writing to Mr Gove after he was reappointed levelling up secretary in a bid to save his local centre.
