Plas Madoc leisure centre campaign gathers pace

Over 2,000 people have joined a campaign to keep the leisure centre open

Plans for a community group to take over a council-run leisure centre which is due to shut next month have taken a step forward.

The future of Plas Madoc Leisure Centre in Wrexham was discussed at a public meeting on Thursday evening.

Campaigner Darrell Wright said a committee would be formed to explore running it as a social enterprise.

Wrexham council has agreed to postpone plans to demolish it to give volunteers time to come up with an action plan.

The authority has to find savings of £45m over five years and says it can no longer afford to run the facility.

Funding search

Mr Wright said: "The meeting went well and there were about 120 people here [at Air Products Social Club in Acrefair].

"It was agreed to form a small committee to take it forward and explore the funding.

"The staff have been told Plas Madoc will close on the 28th April, and we won't be able to do anything about that, but the council has agreed to mothball it until 1 October.

"We're hopeful that if we can get funding in place we can open some time well prior to 1 October."

Speaking before the meeting local AM Ken Skates, one of the community group leaders, said the battle to save the centre had been "divisive and heated" because people cared passionately about it.

"Our vision is to secure its future and ensure it rediscovers its rightful place at the heart of the Clwyd South community," he said.

The group said community ownership of leisure services would enable savings to be made where councils were unable to find them, and would offer opportunities to bid for capital funding which was not available to the local authority,