Critics rail against plan to shut ‘indispensable’ leisure centres

Nicholas Thomas – Local democracy reporter

Council plans to shut leisure centres in a local authority have met stiff opposition from protesters and many backbench councillors.

Members of a Caerphilly County Borough Council joint scrutiny committee meeting failed on Monday to back the closure of centres in Cefn Fforest and New Tredegar.

A crowd of protesters gathered outside the council headquarters to voice their opposition to the council’s money-saving proposals, and throughout the meeting applauded councillors who questioned the cuts.

Protester ‘Nanna’ Deb Lloyd said the Sparrows group she chairs relies on Cefn Fforest Leisure Centre to provide swimming activities for children with additional needs.

‘Stress’

She said losing the centre would be “detrimental”, and the prospect of change is already “causing stress that doesn’t need to be there” for the group’s young members.

Sparrows vice-chair Samantha Rouse said the potential closure “would affect us massively” because Cefn Fforest provides a “more relaxing environment” for children to learn to swim.

Inside the council chamber, with 50 protesters watching on from the public gallery, Unison branch secretary Lianne Dallimore said “indispensable” leisure centres play a “vital role” in the social and wellbeing aspects of community life, and “are often the heartbeat of our towns”.

Sparrows representative Katie Collins said leisure centre users reported feeling “left in the lurch” by the council’s proposals – which also cover a centre in Bedwas.

Cllr Jamie Pritchard, the council’s deputy leader, told the meeting Caerphilly residents “have access to more leisure centres than in any other council area in Wales”.

He said the future closures of the three centres was nothing new – and had been set out in 2018, when the council agreed a ten-year Sports and Active Recreation Strategy (SARS).

The council is facing budget challenges, and reducing its leisure estate to four centres (in Caerphilly town, Heolddu, Newbridge and Risca) will “secure a more financially sustainable future” for the service, he argued.

Senior council officer Rob Hartshorn said the council “needs to find significant savings” and the proposed closures are a way of “concentrating our resources”.

Jared Lougher, another officer, defended Caerphilly’s spending on leisure, telling the committee the council had “invested over £5.5 million” in various projects including new all-weather sports pitches.

Proposal

Many committee members questioned the logic of shutting down three leisure centres, however.

Cefn Fforest and Pengam ward councillor Teresa Heron said her “vital” local centre’s importance “goes far beyond physical health”.

Ward colleague Cllr Marina Chacon-Dawson noted a closure would also leave the large town of Blackwood without access to a local centre, while Cllr Shane Williams – also representing Cefn Fforest and Pengam – criticised the council for not directly engaging with primary schools about the proposal.

Blackwood councillor Nigel Dix said the £288,000 estimated maintenance backlog for Cefn Fforest Leisure Centre is “not an exorbitant amount of money for the council to find” and called the potential closures “the wrong choice”.

Cllr Andrew Farina-Childs, also of Blackwood, said the centre underwent a “significant refit” in 2011 and asked why it now needed so much maintenance work.

Speaking to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, Blackwood councillor Kevin Etheridge said the council “must save this asset for the children and the community”, and should use money from other revenue sources to keep the site open.

Cllr Colin Gordon, from Pontllanfraith, said it would be an “absolute tragedy” to lose the swimming pool at Cefn Fforest, and urged cabinet members and council officers to find an alternative solution.

Questions were also raised about the increased burden on schools, older people and families who have to travel further to a different leisure centre if their local site closed.

Warning

This could also have an environmental impact, Cllr Bob Owen warned.

The committee voted 34-18 against closing down Cefn Fforest Leisure Centre by the end of August, and voted 27-22 (with two abstentions) against shutting New Tredegar Leisure Centre by the same date.

Members voted 27-21 (with three abstentions) to support closing Bedwas Leisure Centre when the new Leisure and Wellbeing Hub opens in Caerphilly town – currently this is expected by March 2027.

Cabinet members will consider the results of the committee’s indicative votes when making a final decision at a meeting on Wednesday May 14.