Leisure centre hall set to stay closed

Part of a Black Country leisure centre that had its roof desecrated by metal thieves could remain closed indefinitely.

Willenhall Leisure Centre has been given a closure date of September 1 after Walsall Council's cabinet deemed the facility too costly to keep going, but the metal thefts mean the building is now unsafe.

The main hall and gym have been shut after rain poured through the ceiling of the 1938 building as a result of the raid last month. Officers say they are working to reopen the gym, but it is unlikely the hall will be used again.

Chris Holliday, Walsall Council head of leisure and community health, said: "At present we are working with property services to see if access to the fitness suite can be made safe and brought back into use.

"However at this stage it seems unlikely that an economic repair of the hall roof will be possible and therefore the hall is likely to be out of use indefinitely."

Leader of the council Mike Bird said officers are doing daily checks on the state of the centre, and have been told to shut its doors immediately if there are any doubts about its safety.

He said: "Thieves in Walsall seem to have no respect for anything. I have been told that the roof is not so much the only problem but the structure of the building is such that as the roof has been damaged, the windows are unsafe.

"If officers feel at any time that the situation has deteriorated to such an extent that it's a danger to the public, they will close the doors there and then."

Leisure chief Councillor Anthony Harris said the roof is "critically unsafe" and could collapse at any time.

In February the cabinet agreed to defer the closure of the centre for three months to allow users of the centre to explore other options and encourage the local community to increase public use of the facility.

This sparked a campaign encouraging the community to make use of the centre and looked at options of how to reduce costs.

But although costs were reduced, the subsidy paid by the council per user was still roughly twice that of other centres in the borough, and the cabinet made the decision to close the centre on Wednesday, to the dismay of protesters.

The centre is just a fraction of the £55m of savings the council needs to make, and Councillor Bird has said "nothing is sacrosanct" when it comes to future cuts.

Councillors also sparked controversy this week as they decided to withdraw funding from outdoor pursuits centre Bryntysilio.

Councillors unanimously agreed to cease the provision of residential outdoor education at Bryntysilio in Llangollen, North Wales, earlier this week.

The future of the centre has been a point of controversy in the town for more than nine months as the council worked to reduce the cost of sending school children there. The cost was reduced from £364 per child to £350, which councillors said was not enough of a saving to keep sending children there.z