Falmouth's leisure centre WILL shut despite review one day before closure
Officials say Ships and Castles is underused and the numbers don't add up
Last updated 30th Mar 2022
It has been confirmed that Falmouth's leisure centre will shut for good, despite a review being carried out the day before closure.
Earlier this month the Conservative Cabinet agreed that it would abandon a procurement process which had seen alternative operators submit bids to take on Ships and Castles.
The Cabinet agreed to stop the process as the bids were not considered to be economically viable.
But an overview and scrutiny committee found officials had "inadequate information” and that the decision to shut the site should be reconsidered.
Cornwall Council’s Cabinet held an extraordinary meeting today (30th March), just 24 hours before it’s set to close its doors for good, but they still decided the pool was underused and that the numbers don't add up.
Councillors voted in favour of the planned closure, meaning the site will go ahead and shut on Thursday (31st March).
Cabinet member Richard Pears, who is responsible for leisure, said: "The advice we received was correct. We are satisfied with our decision on 4th March. The figures for this pool in our opinion don't add up. It was a tough decision but it remains the right one.
"This is a very very underused facility and we want Falmouth to end up with a pool it needs.
"What we're describing is a fun pool but what we can do is something better".
Councillor Jayne Kirkham, who has previously campaigned for the leisure centre, said: "The problem we've got is our pool is going and we don't know when there'll be an alternative, something else is at risk (the headland) and we don't know when or if something alternative will be put in place".
Pendennis Leisure says it has surveyed over 500 residents since the initial decision was made, to better understand the social impacts of the closure of Ships and Castles.
It found 68% of those questioned were users of the leisure centre, 86% of children asked use the site once a month or more, and over half of adults say they won't be able to use another facility due to distance, cost, availability, access or specific needs.