Two leisure centre closures in Gateshead confirmed

Two council-run leisure centres in Gateshead will be shut down next month due to budget cuts, it has been confirmed.

Gateshead Leisure Centre and Birtley Swimming Centre will be closed by Gateshead Council on July 21, after the local authority’s cabinet signed off on the controversial move.

However, it is hoped that both facilities can still be saved and reopened in the coming months.

Talks are progressing over a transfer of the two centres into community ownership, which could see them brought back into use.

At a meeting of the Labour-run local authority’s cabinet on Tuesday, council bosses were accused of mismanagement and of running the centres “into the ground” since 2015.

There has been a large public backlash to the prospect of any closures since news of the plans first broke last October.

But Alice Wiseman, Gateshead’s public health director, told council colleagues that maintaining all of the area’s leisure services was “no longer affordable” – with them expected to run over the annual budget by £1.4m.

However, she said that business cases put forward to save both the large Saltwell centre and Birtley’s pool were “strong and robust and we are working to make sure we can support them in any way we can to make it a reality”.

Gateshead Active has been set up to save the Gateshead Leisure Centre and is hopeful of completing a community asset transfer deal to reopen it in the autumn, while the Gateshead and Whickham Swimming Club and the Birtley Swimming Club are proposing to take over the Birtley pool – though that process is at an earlier stage and may see it reopen in April 2024.

But the decision to shutter both sites before those transfers are finalised, and to do so just as the school summer holidays begin, has provoked anger once again – with concerns that customers will go elsewhere in the meantime and not return.

Rosie Lewis, of the Save Leisure Gateshead campaign group, said: “The appalling lack of care for the people and children of Gateshead is just staggering.”

She also expressed fears that the financial hit caused by lost Go Gateshead leisure centre memberships and the cost of maintaining the centres while they are mothballed could be just as large as the money that would be needed to keep them open in the interim.

"Extremely regrettable"

Leader of Gateshead Council, Martin Gannon said:

“It’s with a heavy heart that we have approved today’s recommendations and that we will see two of our leisure centres close. We’ve had no choice after government cuts to funding, we’ve used our reserves to sustain the leisure centres during the extension to the consultation period – these funds are not infinite.

“We will continue to put every effort into supporting the community asset transfer groups to ensure they are able to present a viable business plan. The plans which the community groups have presented to us are really exciting, they’ve filled me with hope that these centres will reopen as thriving hubs of the community.”

Director of Public Health Alice Wiseman said:

“Today’s decision is extremely regrettable and has not been recommended without very careful consideration. I appreciate the impact this will have on our local communities and completely understand their concerns, but due to our difficult financial situation we are simply unable to keep running these sites whilst delivering our essential services. We must prioritise the support that benefits the greatest number of people and those that need it most.

"Moving forward, we will work to ensure that all our residents can access inclusive and affordable opportunities to get active through our community-based projects. We will also be able to strengthen the service we run from our remaining leisure centres, with additional opening hours in place from 22 July. GO Gateshead members can also take advantage of 1:1 fitness plans created by our experienced and knowledgeable leisure services colleagues at no extra cost.

"And to ensure that our children do not lose the opportunity to learn to swim, school swimming lessons that usually take place at Birtley Swimming Centre and Gateshead Leisure Centre will be transferred to other pools.”

Ms Wiseman said that closing the centres now was necessary due to staffing shortages in the council’s leisure services, which would otherwise lead to short-notice closures – and a potential repeat of the situation that saw Heworth Leisure Centre shuttered for eight weeks last summer

"Run into the ground"

No jobs will be lost from the centres’ closure, with all staff being transferred to work at the council’s other leisure sites – which also includes facilities in Blaydon, Dunston, Birtley Sports Hall, and Gateshead International Stadium.

Coun Ron Beadle, leader of Gateshead’s Lib Dem opposition, said the council had left itself in a position where it has to close two leisure centres to keep its others open because they had not been “managed properly”.

He urged civic centre leaders to spend the money needed to keep both sites running until the asset transfers are complete, pointing out that the authority was predicted to underspend its last yearly budget by more than £3m.

Coun Beadle said: “Why not listen to the people and spend that extra money on keeping the centres open until we know we definitely have an alternative? At the moment we don’t – we are promised there will be, but we don’t know for certain.”

Labour council leader Martin Gannon insisted that was not feasible, as the council’s budget had been based on spending £26m of its cash reserves anyway in order to balance the books.

Promising to make sure the asset transfers go ahead successfully, Coun Gannon said he was “not prepared to see them close permanently and deprive the people of Gateshead of these facilities”.

He added:

“You make the point about taking a punt on something we are not certain on. The information I have in front of me and the discussions I have had makes me 100% confident that we will make this happen. We are making the financial provision to support it and, if necessary, we will make further provision.”

Lib Dem Dawn Welsh claimed that she had witnessed the leisure centres being “run into the ground” over recent years and asked why action had not been taken sooner to transfer them to another operator.

Former councillor Robert Waugh, who is part of the Gateshead Active group, reassured the cabinet that he wanted to see Gateshead Leisure Centre back open “much, much earlier” than a December 31 date that the cabinet was asked to approve for the extension of asset transfer talks.

He admitted that the proposed new owners expect to lose customers initially and that the site cannot “break even overnight”, given that it is running at a £700,000 annual loss now.

But, he said that an asset transfer to a charitable body was the “only financially viable future” and urged councillors to “stop making this a political football”.

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