Birtley’s under-threat swimming pool has been lauded as a vital community lifeline by locals desperate to see it saved from closure.
The Birtley Swimming Centre is one of two Gateshead Council-run facilities that could be shut down under controversial budget cuts. Unexpected news in January that the Durham Road pool was on the local authority’s chopping block, having not initially been identified as being at the highest risk, came as a major blow to the town – and especially to the Birtley Amateur Swimming Club.
As residents gathered to make their case to council officials at a drop-in session on Thursday night, club chair Edith Scott told the Local Democracy Reporting Service that she worries that local families and schools will not be able to afford the extra travel costs to send youngsters to other leisure centres in Chester-le-Street or Washington.
