Council cuts: a tale of two leisure centres

Sip Gallagher said losing the leisure centre would be "devastating"

In the rural town of Cleobury Mortimer, Shropshire, residents are anxious about the future of their leisure centre.

The organisation that runs it, Teme Leisure, is to hand back the contract to Shropshire Council after the local authority stopped an annual grant worth £23,500, having claimed it could no longer afford to provide the funding.

The town's volleyball club has warned that it would "have to fold" if the centre was to close on 3 December.

About 29 miles away, still in south Shropshire, residents in Bishop's Castle were delighted this week after the same council gave the go-ahead for a £4m upgrade to their leisure centre.

On Wednesday, council leaders approved a raft of improvements to the site, including a £1.1m refurbishment of the swimming pool, a new roof and an all-electric heating system.

The reason why the leisure centre in Bishop's Castle is receiving a financial boost, while the centre in Cleobury Mortimer had its grant stopped in April, is a result of how local authorities spend their money.

In the case of Cleobury Mortimer, Teme Leisure's annual subsidy had come from the council's revenue fund - its day-to-day spending account, which includes the income it receives from government grants, council tax, business rates and other fees and charges, like parking and burials.

It is this fund which will run out of money by spring, unless the council finds urgent savings.

Cleobury Mortimer Volleyball Club was formed in 1981

The former Conservative administration at Shropshire Council stopped Teme Leisure's grant before it was removed from office in May's local elections, and the new Liberal Democrat leadership team has said that it does not have the spare funds to reinstate it.

"Everyone is worried, to say the least," said Sip Gallagher, a coach at the Cleobury Mortimer Volleyball Club and member of the Ladies' first team.

"The leisure centre closing would be devastating. We're not just a sports club; we're a volleyball family, and we all really get along.

"We use this hall for all of our training and all of our games. Without this venue, the club will probably fold," she added.

'The community has worked really hard'

To the west of the county in Bishop's Castle, the modernisation programme planned for the town's leisure centre is funded differently.

The project is part of the council's capital programme, which is the local authority's long-term plan to spend money on assets and infrastructure, such as new buildings, roads or equipment.

It is funded using specific capital grants from central government and the sale of council buildings and land, as well as borrowing.

More than half of the money being spent on the town's leisure centre, worth about £2.5m, is from a public sector decarbonisation grant.

A further £680,000 of funding is money levied by Shropshire Council on new developments in the area. The rest is being paid for by community fundraising of £250,000 and £505,000 from the council's capital repairs programme.

Councillor Ruth Houghton is a trustee on the board at the Bishop's Castle leisure centre

"The grant that's been allocated for decarbonisation will make the swimming pool and the whole centre sustainable," said Bishop's Castle Liberal Democrat councillor Ruth Houghton.

"The community has also worked really hard to raise a significant amount of money."

Asked if it seemed unfair that Cleobury Mortimer's leisure centre could close while Bishop's Castle's gets a multi-million-pound upgrade, Houghton said they were willing to share their experience with campaigners trying to save the facility.

"You need a committed team of people, a good chair and treasurer, and the community behind you," she said.

"There's a real opportunity for the community in Cleobury to be involved in taking the centre forward, and I know the council would welcome that."

Conversations are continuing to take place between Teme Leisure, Shropshire Council, Cleobury Mortimer Town Council and the area's Conservative MP Stuart Anderson in a bid to find a short-term funding solution so that the leisure centre can remain open until 2027, which is when the current contract expires.

The upgrade to the Bishop's Castle leisure centre will require full council backing before work can begin.