Consultants have now been brought in to decide the fate of Tendring’s Leisure Centres, including Dovercourt. A report will be published in June, after the District and Parish Council Elections. 

 

The links below show that, around the country, different councils have been considering the closure of some or all of their leisure centres in the face of Government grant cuts, Manchester being the headline example. 

With politics playing a heady mix in Manchester, these other examples still show that closure is not off the agenda until residents and tax-payers put their foot down. 

 

It is also encouraging to see that more imaginative proposals (such as in Northampton) have come forward to help councils save money, but also maintain much-prized leisure facilities. 

 

There are even councils, such as Bournemouth, that are bucking the trend by not only keeping leisure centres open, but also spending substantial amounts of money to improve their facilities. 

 

The great pity is that Conservative-run Tendring Council, in stark contrast, has effectively done nothing for two years. 

 

As our first article shows, the finance to upgrade Dovercourt to the same high standards as Clacton Leisure Centre has been voted for three times. In addition, the idea to set up a charitable leisure trust was put in place by the previous, Tendring First-led Administration in early 2009 and the money to investigate it set aside over a year ago. 

 

As the latter links in this sample from around the country show, other councils have not been so blinkered, lazy or incompetent in safeguarding the existence of and even the improvement of leisure services for their residents.