Anger from locals at Catmose Sports Centre meeting
The six members of the cabinet did their best to assure the angered crowd
“You haven’t heard the last of this!” was the angry cry from protesters aimed at Rutland County Council over the closure of Catmose Sports Centre in Oakham.
The public meeting of the cabinet (6/2) was attended by 70 protesters who gathered with T-shirts, stickers and placards, all demanding the reversal of the decision.
"We feel strongly that Rutland’s wider sport, leisure and recreation offer can meet the long-term needs of the other Catmose Sports Centre users”
The six members of the cabinet did their best to assure the angered crowd that everything possible has already been done to save the centre from closure on March 31st, but their arguments fell on mostly deaf ears.
Leader of the council, Cllr Lucy Stephenson (Con) explained: “The cabinet has had to make a very hard decision on whether we could afford to take on the risks associated with subsidising a commercial leisure centre in the current financial climate."
"We have subsidised the current contract holder, Stevenage Leisure Ltd for two years beyond the point where their contract was due to finish because of covid but after tendering out the contract we have received no suitable offers to run the centre as a zero-cost facility, and sadly we have no option available to us other than closure.
“However, we understood the impact this will have on community clubs and we’re confident that our relationship with Catmose College will allow us to find a solution before current arrangements end. Both the council and college want clubs and groups to be able to use the facilities after March, so we are intending to use a one-off funding allocated for sport, leisure and recreation to enable Catmose College to sustain community access beyond March 31, 2023.
"Importantly, this would not impact on the council’s revenue budget or increase financial pressure on the authority. The college is looking carefully at what it needs to make this happen, which will then allow the council to finalise support. Beyond this, we feel strongly that Rutland’s wider sport, leisure and recreation offer can meet the long-term needs of the other Catmose Sports Centre users.”
But the audience disagreed loudly, and spoke out about how important the facility is to them and their families, that many walk there with children, how the closure will ‘lose an entire community of more than 900 people’, and could have a potentially devastating future impact on both physical and mental health in Oakham and Rutland as a whole.
"I’d rather forego the bin being collected and use that £50 to keep my sports community going as it is a vital part of my social life”
One Rutlander, whose two children are both under eight years of age, had been using the ‘Wild Camp’ childcare facilities at Catmose as recently as Christmas. She said: “At any point was it discussed that Wild Camp would be taken away from everybody in Rutland? I’ve been emailing Cllr David Wilby (Con)."
"I’ve followed the contact structure that I’m supposed to, because as of eight weeks’ time at the Easter Holidays, me, and all the other parents that use Wild Camp have no childcare. Not one person has been able to give me a childcare provider that will do Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm – the solution you did suggest, Kaleidoscope, are only open for two weeks in the summer holidays – that’s it!”
Another person complained that there had been no consultation with any of the 900 members of the sports centre, many of whom said they would gladly have allowed their subscriptions to increase, rather than lose the facility. One complained: “My green bin has gone up from £30 to £40 to £50 a fortnight to be collected. I’d rather forego the bin being collected and use that £50 to keep my sports community going as it is a vital part of my social life.”
Bringing the meeting to close and with boos ringing around the room, one member of the public cried out to Cllr Stephenson: “You haven’t heard the last of this! We’ll be back at full council with our petition and our 15 minutes to speak and we will fight you on this, all the way.”
Cllr Stephenson said after the meeting: “I wanted to hold this public meeting because I felt it very important that people have the opportunity to hold us to account, and try to answer the questions that have been put to us. I know people disagree with our decision on nil-cost going forward, which was the right thing to do, because we shouldn’t be using tax-payers’ money to prop-up a commercial business."
“The next step is how we work with the school – which obviously we’re in the process of doing – to give community clubs and groups access. There was a lot of passionate feeling shown about the fitness classes and the gym, and that is something that we will work with our Rutland team to make sure that we can support so everybody still has those things happening.
"What I have taken from the meeting is that we have a really united community here in Oakham and in Rutland, which is something that you don’t always find. Now we have to find a way to harness all that passion and determination, to bring us all together and find a way forward.”
The next meeting of the full council of Rutland County Council is on February 21st 2023.