School swimming lessons could rack up big bills after Gateshead leisure centre closure
Some schools are concerned booking coach travel to nearby pools could cost thousands of pounds
Schools in Gateshead could be hit with huge travel bills reaching up to tens of thousands of pounds because of the closure of two of the borough's leisure centres.
Education leaders say they have big concerns over the potential costs of sorting out coaches and bus travel to get pupils to their closest pool for swimming lessons - as they can no longer walk to the local pools in Gateshead or Birtley.
Gateshead Leisure Centre and Birtley Swimming Centre were closed in July, due to council budget cuts, meaning schools which have used those facilities for swimming lessons will have to transport children to Heworth or Dunston when the new term begins in September.
While there is hope that both closed centres will reopen under new community management, school chiefs have told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) that they face having to make “trade-offs” in the meantime to cover the cost of hiring coaches or minibuses as no financial help is being provided by Gateshead Council.
As well as eating into the budget for activities such as after-school clubs, there are big worries about the impact on teaching time too – with classes now facing round trips of around an hour, when walking to their swimming pool and back would have previously taken just minutes.
Susan Coles, chair of governors at Brighton Grove Primary School in Bensham, says her school would have to pay £11,000 per year to send its pupils to Dunston Pool for swimming lessons, which all schools are required to provide as part of the curriculum.
She added: “You can walk to Gateshead Leisure Centre from our school, so the teachers would walk the pupils over there for their swimming lesson. Without the leisure centre, we would have to go to Dunston. That would cost us £11,000 a year because we would need to hire a coach.”
The Gateshead Active group trying to complete a community asset transfer for Gateshead Leisure Centre hope to have it reopened by the end of this year, but the significant number of schools that used it will have to make alternative arrangements for at least a couple of months until then.
Ms Coles added: “I hope that the Gateshead Active group does take it over. It is a huge loss to the community and to families, as well as to schools. It is a valuable thing that has been there for so long.”
The head teacher of another Gateshead school told the LDRS that the money spent on travel bills could quickly run into tens of thousands of pounds for each school in their area within a few years if the leisure centres cannot be saved.
The head, who asked not to be named, said: “It might be that some after-school clubs don’t happen or specialist coaches cannot come in in order to reduce costs. There will have to be a trade-off for a lot of schools.
“It is also lost time in the curriculum. We are just across from the leisure centre and it takes about seven minutes to get our children there. But we will now lose curriculum time and that is more valuable than the money sometimes. Children will now be sat on a coach and it will probably be 30 minutes each way, so that is just as big a challenge for us.”
Parent Lizzy Haskins, whose children go to Caedmon Community Primary School, also worries that Gateshead’s remaining swimming pools will have much of their timetables taken up during the day to accommodate the influx of extra schools using them – potentially driving away other members who therefore cannot use the pool when they want to.
She added: “There must be a lot of schools within walking distance of Gateshead Leisure Centre – if it cost them all £11,000 each then that is a huge amount of money coming out of Gateshead budgets, then you have to add in the schools that would have gone to Birtley too.”
Edith Scott, chair of Birtley Amateur Swimming Club, raised concerns for schools in her area too – with local schools facing even longer journeys to Birtley and back than those in the centre of Gateshead who used to use the large centre in Saltwell.
She said: “We have heard that schools are going to have huge bills to take kids to places like Heworth instead of here. It is shocking and the council aren’t prepared to help in any way whatsoever.”
Her club has teamed up with the Gateshead and Whickham Swimming Club to relaunch Birtley’s swimming pool, though their asset transfer plans are at an earlier stage and the reopening is targeted for next spring.
Labour councillor Angela Douglas, Gateshead Council’s cabinet member responsible for leisure centres, said the authority was “supporting the community asset transfers and we hope that a robust and viable business plan is shared with us soon”.
She said: “As our leisure services were £2.3m over budget, we knew that some schools would have to amend the way they travelled to swimming lessons.
“As part of the review process, we ensured that all legal requirements were met in regard to schools accessing their nearest pool. Once Gateshead Active are in a position to take over Gateshead Leisure Centre, our schools will have the option to continue lessons at the pools they now attend or return to Gateshead Leisure Centre.”
Coun Douglas added: “During the review we engaged with local schools to understand the impact of the closures on school swimming lessons. Schools across the borough are required to provide transport to pools for lessons, during the review it was identified a small number of schools that were in walking distance to a Gateshead Council pool would have to seek alternative mode of transport once the leisure centres closed.”