MPs warn of 'untold long-term consequences' if Gateshead leisure centres are shut down

Gateshead MPs have warned that the town cannot afford to lose leisure centres that are under threat of closure.

They have predicted "untold long-term consequences" for their constituents if at-risk community facilities cannot be saved, amid major concerns about the potentially devastating impact on people's health.

Ian Mearns and Liz Twist have joined calls for ministers to take urgent action to protect services, with leisure centres in both of their constituencies deemed to be those most likely to be shut down under Gateshead Council budget cut plans.

Campaigners have united in asking the Government to offer new funding for leisure facilities, at a time when it is feared more than 100 swimming pools across England could soon be shuttered.

Mr Mearns has called for a meeting with levelling up secretary Michael Gove to discuss the perilous state of the local council's finances, with civic centre officials scratching their heads over how to save £55m in the next five years having already slashed £179m from the authority's spending since 2010.

The Gateshead MP said: "To me, the levelling up agenda is a massive, hypocritical, gaslighting exercise trying to pull the wool over the eyes of the public about how much money has been withdrawn from local authorities in areas like the North East."

He added: "Before I was an MP, I was on the council for 27 years and throughout my career as a councillor Gateshead massively encouraged sport. It was one of the straplines that we were building ourselves up on, with things like the stadium - we had athletics there, football, rugby league, all sorts.

"For us to have a situation where some of the major facilities for exercise in Gateshead are being taken away… there will be untold long-term consequences."

In Ms Twist's Blaydon constituency, both the Dunston Leisure Centre and the sports hall at Birtley Leisure Centre have been listed among the "least sustainable" in the borough.

She told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: "All of them are needed to make sure people have the opportunity to keep well and keep fit, to play and to swim. The council has been facing difficult choices year on year and this is just one more stage of that - what we need is proper funding to ensure that all of our essential services and our leisure centres can carry on. There has to be much more funding made available to do that.

"Our leisure centres are not something we can afford to lose and we need to do all we can to look at different ways to protect them - and that includes the Government putting up money to protect services."

Time is running out for residents to have their say on the council's plans, with a consultation on the future of six facilities running until Tuesday, December 20.

A Government spokesperson said: "We understand the pressures councils are under and are working closely with them to ensure vital public services are protected.

"We provided an unprecedented £1 billion to ensure the survival of professional sport and leisure sectors during the pandemic.

"This is on top of £6.5 billion made available to councils this year, including an additional £16 million for Gateshead County Council compared to last year."

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