Deal leisure centre refurbishment delayed

Local sports groups are worried that they won't be able to continue during the nearly two years construction.  Finn Macdiarmid reports.

Transcript

00:00Nearly 800 residents have signed a petition to keep Tides Leisure Centre in

00:04Deal open, as the council debate whether or not to close it for two years for

00:08refurbishments. According to one Labour councillor, leisure centres tend to have

00:12a lifespan of around 40 years, which means that this centre, which was built

00:16in the 1980s, may need a refurbishment. But it's become a controversial issue

00:21both for the local council and for local community groups.

00:25The real problem with the plans that the current Labour-controlled Dover District

00:29Council are proceeding with, is that they're planning to shut it for nine

00:33months, with no operator in place to run it, no users allowed to use it at all, the

00:39tennis centre will be shut, the indoor sports hall will be shut, and they

00:43haven't even appointed a contractor to build the new centre yet. So there's no

00:46need to close it, and when the cabinet made that decision on Monday, they didn't

00:50give adequate consideration to the impact it would have on the many, many

00:54users of the sports club, the sports hall, and the tennis centre.

00:59Particular groups who use the centre, like tennis and gymnastics clubs, will reportedly

01:03struggle to find adequate venues to continue their practices. But it isn't

01:07just limited to large groups, with multiple other sports and activity

01:10clubs worried about the closure's knock-on effect.

01:13Here we get free parking, and obviously we're on, it's for the over 55s, it's for the older

01:20group of people, we obviously don't want to have to spend money on car parking.

01:23Unfortunately, there's no other rehab at all.

01:29I wouldn't come if there wasn't a swimming pool. I like to swim, I need to do exercise, I can't walk very well.

01:34Dover Council had a majority of Labour councillors, but after one changed to the

01:38Conservative group and another became independent, both Labour and Conservative

01:42groups became equally weighted, with 15 members each. While Labour want to close

01:46the centre by the 31st of March to complete the £19m renovation, the

01:50Conservative group took action to delay the move, using a call-in, meaning it now

01:55needs review via committee before any action can be taken. According to Dover

01:59Council's Labour group, the call-in is for the closure for nine months, not the

02:03provision of a new facility. The Constitution quite rightly allows for

02:07call-in, and all parties have agreed to the Constitution, so we support the

02:11ability to call in decisions and trust this will not delay the provision of a

02:15new centre and deal, which is much overdue and needed. While the political

02:19deadlock means the future of the centre isn't yet clear, a public meeting will

02:23take place on the 27th of this month, where residents and community groups can

02:27voice their concerns. Finn McDermid for KMTV in Deal.