The closure of leisure centres in Gateshead would leave the “heart ripped out” of communities, Labour’s shadow health secretary has said.
Wes Streeting blamed the Government for the potential shutting of Gateshead Leisure Centre and Birtley Swimming Centre, both of which are under threat from council budget cuts. Mr Streeting, who visited the North East this weekend, claimed that spending cuts forced on local authorities since 2010 had “ripped away” the social fabric of deprived communities in the region.
However, the Ilford North MP did not specify what a Labour administration would do to help cash-strapped councils avoid closing down beloved community hubs.
Read More: Confidence that community can save Gateshead Leisure Centre after closure threat 'wake up call'
Asked by the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) about what his party’s plans were to help areas like Gateshead that face the prospect of losing their leisure centres, Mr Streeting said: “What the Conservatives have been very good at doing is devolving the cuts to local councils and devolving the blame. We have been in a situation, including in Labour councils, where budgets have been cut, services have been cut, and ironically it is Labour councils who get the blame for decisions taken in Westminster by the Conservatives.”
The shadow health secretary, who was at the Richardson Community Hospital in Barnard Castle on Saturday, added: “For all the rhetoric about levelling up, what has really changed? Why is it that Rishi Sunak when he was standing to be leader of the Conservative Party was boasting about funnelling funding to Royal Tunbridge Wells when in places like Gateshead, which have some of the highest levels of poverty in the country, people who need good community services are seeing the heart ripped out of their communities.
"That is not levelling up. It is not even robbing Peter to pay Paul, it is robbing Peter to pay Tarquin.”
Gateshead Council recently pressed pause on its leisure centre closure plans to allow for further public consultation and talks over community asset transfers that could save the sites. It had been proposed that the two sites shut on March 31, but local authority Labour chiefs instead agreed in late January to spend up to £900,000 to fund a three-month reprieve.
The council, which has lost £179m from its annual spending since 2010, has argued that it must close some of its over-budget leisure centres because of the strain they are putting on the civic centre coffers. But the plans have sparked outrage among locals, more than 7,000 of whom have already had their say in a first round of consultation, with fears that the centres’ loss could have a devastating impact on people’s physical and mental health.
ChronicleLive, local campaigners, the council, sports clubs, and MPs have all united in calls over recent months for ministers to step in with extra funding that would allow the centres to stay open. Gateshead Council is hosting a drop in session at Birtley Children’s Centre on Thursday, March 2, from 5.30pm to 7.30pm, where residents can have their say on the proposals.
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 made £1 billion available to ensure the survival of sports and leisure sectors during the pandemic.
“This is on top of an increase of up to £5.1 billion made available to councils this year, including an additional £21.8 million for Gateshead County Council compared to last year.”
Mr Streeting was in the North East talking about Labour’s plans to cut NHS waiting lists and fill thousands of vacancies in the health service. He told the LDRS: “We have set out some serious long-term ambitions for the country. We are establishing credible policies like doubling the number of medical school places, which people can judge us against.
“If after one term of Labour government people don’t think we are living up to our promises or not taking the country in the right direction, then they can boot us out and vote someone else in. But we have had 13 years of Conservative government, we have had more than enough Conservative Prime Ministers, Chancellors, and health secretaries to work out if they are any good or not.”
He added: “I understand why lots of traditional Labour voters turned their backs on us at the last general election. I hope they can see Keir Starmer has got the message, changed the Labour Party, and I hope people now put their faith in us to change the country for the better.”
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