Heartbreak after bid to keep Kimberley Leisure Centre open fails

Kimberley School took over direct management of the facility, with financial support from the council, in 2022

Members of a swimming club have been left heartbroken after a challenge to keep a Nottinghamshire leisure centre open failed.

Councillors discussed whether the decision to close Kimberley Leisure Centre should be reconsidered on Friday.

Broxtowe Borough Council said the costs asked by Kimberley School - estimated to be almost £3m - meant it was unaffordable to keep it open.

The decision was called a "travesty".

The closure was originally announced in December after a private meeting, but a call-in request meant the public could hear the debate for the first time, the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) said.

Coach and campaigner Ruth Stirland called for the council to keep the facility open ahead of the meeting, alongside fellow members of the Kimberley Swimming Club.

She told the LDRS: "I can't begin to express the anguish that this has caused to the whole of the community.

"We haven't been consulted. We haven't been consulted at all. We didn't know anything about it.

"The contribution that we make to the community is saving the council hundreds of thousands of pounds. We are getting children off the streets, getting them fit and teaching them a life skill."

'The heart of Kimberley'

Kimberley School has asked the Labour-run authority for £440,000 to cover the leisure centre's losses over the next three years, while repair costs currently total about £2.4m, the LDRS reported.

Councillor Lydia Ball was one of five Conservatives members who requested the decision to be reconsidered.

"The leisure centre is the heart of Kimberley - it makes it what it is. When it's gone, there's nothing left," she said.

"To even consider not supporting it is a travesty."

The call-in claimed there had not been enough consultation and other alternatives had not been properly explored.

However, Labour members said there was no way to continue funding the facility.

Council leader Milan Radulovic has written to the government asking for some of Kimberley's ring-fenced levelling up funding to be allocated to the leisure centre.

However, he said he was not hopeful.

"At this 11th hour and 59th minute, we're still trying to provide a leisure facility in the north of the borough," he told the meeting.

The committee ultimately rejected the call-in request, meaning the original decision to close the leisure centre will stand.

A cross-party group will now be set up to look at new local leisure facilities.