Kirklees Council wants to shut down Dewsbury Sports Centre for good – but it will still cost council tax-payers millions of pounds.

The sports centre was closed indefinitely in September 2023 after potentially dangerous Reinforced Autoclaved Aerated Concrete (RAAC) was found in the building.

The council says repairs would cost around £10 million to a sports centre and swimming pool that loses £1 million a year.

Kirklees Council owns the ‘wet side’ of the sports centre while it has a 125-year lease on the ‘dry side.’

The council’s Cabinet will consider the options at a meeting at Huddersfield Town Hall on Tuesday November 5 with a recommendation that the sports centre doesn’t re-open, and the ‘wet side’ is demolished and turned into a car park.

That would cost around £3.5 million plus whatever it cost for the council to buy itself out of the lease on the ‘dry side.’

 

 

The council says its options are to: Do nothing and leave the building standing empty; re-open the wet and dry sides which would cost up to £10 million; Re-open the ‘dry side’ only at a cost of £5.7 million which would make an estimated loss of £600,000 a year, an additional cost which would also fall on the council; Shut the sports centre down completely and demolish the ‘wet side’ and build a car park; build a brand new sports centre and swimming pool on the site or elsewhere, which would cost a combined £55 million; or hand over the building to a community group as an asset transfer.

The council says the community asset transfer doesn’t seem feasible with millions of pounds in grants needed along with a viable business plan and the skills needed to run what has been a loss-making operation.

The council’s Cabinet member for adult social care and health, Clr Beverley Addy, said: “This is a difficult decision and one that we won’t take lightly. That’s why we’ve spent a year looking at all the options.

“But we can’t escape the fact that the building needs multi-million-pound improvements just to re-open as well as an ongoing subsidy of over £1m each year.

“Since we were forced to close the building, new gym facilities have also opened in Dewsbury offering competitive membership rates.

“There are also voluntary groups in the town who deliver a range of activities for residents to keep fit and healthy and the council is always keen to support community initiatives that promote physical and mental health.

“I understand that if Cabinet decide to follow the recommendation in the report this will be disappointing news for many people but we have carefully weighed up all the options.”

 

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