Gateshead and Birtley leisure centre closures deferred

Council chiefs have agreed to defer the shutting down of Gateshead Leisure Centre and Birtley Swimming Centre until the summer, to allow for more time for rescue talks that could save some services.

Both sites had been earmarked for closure at the end of March under budget cutting plans and dozens of campaigners gathered outside Gateshead Civic Centre on Tuesday morning, ahead of a tense council meeting where the decision was due to be signed off.

Read more: Protest against council plans to close two North East leisure centres to save costs

Thousands of people have expressed their horror at the proposals over recent months, with major concerns about the impact the loss of beloved facilities will have in some of the North East’s most deprived communities.

As tempers flared at the cabinet meeting, Labour council leader Martin Gannon instead proposed funding the centres to stay open for “at least” an extra three months, likely continuing until some point in June – though no specific date has been decided on.

He said the move would give more time for talks about arranging community asset transfers for leisure centres that would allow them to stay open and allow for extra consultation with the people of Birtley, who only found out last week that their pool was at risk when the council’s proposals changed. Birtley sports hall and Dunston Leisure Centre had originally been named among those at greatest risk, but no longer are on the chopping block.

Wendy Arkle and Jacqueline Ward joined their fellow campaigners at Gateshead Civic Centre. (Image: LDRS)

Coun Gannon said that the delay, which could cost the council up to £900,000, was a “major commitment”. 

He added: “We are doing it because we believe it is possible to make these community asset transfers happen. If I did not believe it was possible, I would not do it, I would be honest and tell people that they have to close.”

However, the council leader warned that the centres could not be funded indefinitely through the cash-strapped local authority’s reserves because of the rising financial pressures posed by the demand for adult social care.

Read more: County Durham pool to be closed for six months as part of ten pin bowling plan

Coun Gannon said: “This has to have an end stop. We cannot keep on funding these services from reserves because it will have a consequence elsewhere.”
The council has had its annual budget cut by £179m since 2010 and faces a £20m budget gap next year.

Save Leisure Gateshead campaigner Layla Barclay told the Local Democracy Reporting Service afterwards that the pause was welcome, but that the council needed to give a “firm commitment” that it would do whatever possible to make the asset transfers happen in what is still a “very short timeframe”.

Saltwell Labour councillor Robert Waugh, who had last week proposed the three-month deferral, said it would give the asset transfer a “real possibility of completion” and that extra time to speak to people in Birtley is “the morally right thing to do”.

Cllr Robert Waugh with the campaigners (Image: LDRS)

As furious locals packed the council chamber’s public gallery, cabinet members were challenged about the health impacts of the closures, why membership fees have not been increased to boost income, and the decision to prioritise the redevelopment of the Gateshead Quays for a £20m bid to the Levelling Up Fund.

Rosie Lewis complained that the living conditions of people in Gateshead would be left to deteriorate while a “shiny corporate development” is built on the Quayside.

She claimed that the council “lacks ambition” and that Gateshead Leisure Centre “could have been a thriving business if it had been well-managed”, while fellow activist Wendy Arkle said the authority did not take any action” after setting an ambition to make its leisure centres self-sustaining in 2015.

Coun Ron Beadle, the new leader of the council’s Liberal Democrat opposition, said the three-month delay was the right decision and pledged to push for the year-long deferral his party is set to formally propose next month.

Judith Frodsham at the Civic Centre (Image: LDRS)

Urging the cabinet to harness the energy shown by hundreds of campaigners to help save the leisure services, he added: “Let’s make the most of this opportunity. We recognise this is going to cost money, but it is a huge opportunity for us to use the passion and commitment to make things better. Let’s not lose that opportunity.”

Fellow Lib Dem Dawn Welsh said the council must “take ownership” of its decisions that have led to this point, at a time when neighbouring councils including Newcastle and Durham are planning to build new, modern leisure centres.

Protesters had gathered outside the civic centre’s entrance as councillors headed in for the cabinet meeting.

One Deckham man told the Local Democracy Reporting Service how Gateshead Leisure Centre had changed his life, after being advised by his doctor to start using it after he suffered a serious head injury that left him fearing he may never walk again.

The 44-year-old, who asked not to be named, said: “Ever since I started going there 14 years ago I have never looked back. I have been going there for 14 years now, I know everybody there, my friends are there. I don’t want to go anywhere else.”

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Judith Fordsham, from Bensham, accused the council of having a “lazy attitude” about saving her local centre, where she is an instructor with a swimming club that caters for hundreds of children.

The 48-year-old said: “If it closes down we will have a whole generation of children who cannot swim. Nowhere else has space for our children. This is our pool, our area. We are a community that is really passionate about leisure.”