Fears rural leisure centres in Shropshire face 'death sentence'

Venues such as SpArC in Bishop's Castle and Church Stretton Leisure Centre are facing a bleak future after Shropshire Council announced its £1.8 million budget for leisure centres and swimming pools will be cut to zero for the year 2017/18.

Leisure centres were already facing hundreds of thousands shortfall in funding as money given to them through schools has been cut.

Bishop's Castle campaigner Kate Evans, who presented Shropshire Council with a 2,500-signature petition to safeguard the future of the SpArC in December, said the latest news was devastating.

Both Bishop's Castle and Church Stretton centres were the subject of a visit from prominent peer Lord Mike Storey, Lib Dem spokesman on education in the House of Lords, last month, to highlight the plight of the struggling swimming pools.

Both are run by Teme Leisure, and both are on the list of centres confirmed to be under threat by 2017 if the council budget is cut to nothing, as planned.

Fellow Teme Leisure centres on Shropshire Council's at-risk list include Ludlow and Cleobury Mortimer. Leisure centres in nearby Bridgnorth and Highley are also under threat, as well multiple others in Shrewsbury, Market Drayton, Much Wenlock, Oswestry, Shifnal, Wem and Whitchurch.

"It's unbelievable, I'm just disgusted," said Mrs Evans. "SpArC is linked with Bishop's Castle Community College and alongside its swimming pool and leisure services also hosts a theatre and cafe.

"It will be a death sentence, not just for the leisure centre but for the whole of SpArC.

"The Government and council want people to be fit and healthy but they will not spend money on helping people to do it."

Charlotte Barnes, Shropshire councillor for Bishop's Castle who showed Lord Storey around both Church Stretton and SpArC, said: "It is a real worry, the only thing we can hope is that they will see what an important resource it is. If we didn't have the swimming pool it would be very difficult to keep up with the school curriculum. If we don't have leisure centres in areas like Bishop's Castle then it will impact on the NHS.

"It's also one of the few things young people in Bishop's Castle can still access, because we don't have any money for youth services any more."

She said due to the low population of rural areas it was hard to foresee a time when such leisure centres wouldn't need a subsidy of some sort.

"Shropshire Council has just funded putting solar panels on the building – it has invested such a lot that to just stop giving any money to support it doesn't make sense."