Cllr Henry Wheeler is Gedling Borough Council’s portfolio holder for Lifestyles, Health & Wellbeing. He has penned this response to recent criticisms from opposition councillors about the new Carlton Active leisure centre project…
There has been a lot said recently by opposition councillors on Gedling Borough Council about Carlton Active. Put simply they criticise without saying what they will do differently themselves to prevent the loss of Gedling’s flagship leisure facility in Carlton.
Carlton Forum Leisure Centre has about 2,300 health and fitness members and 1,900 children’s swim school members. It is one of the most frequently used council facilities in the Gedling borough area.
Are opposition councillors seriously saying that they don’t want residents to have a leisure centre in Carlton? Because that’s what will happen if Carlton Active does not go ahead.
Carlton Forum is well over 55 years old and is failing structurally with sewers and drains that are collapsing and creaking at the seams. No amount of sticking plaster solutions is going to change that. At least by building a new centre on the former Richard Herrod Site we can combine a leisure offer with acommunity and wellbeing offer and keep the sports hall open at the Carlton Forum site.
Are opposition councillors who have no plan seriously suggesting that the council does nothing and run the risk of closing a flagship leisure asset on health and safety grounds because of excrement entering the building? That’s what will happen as there’s the very real risk of sewage leaking into the swimming pool at Carlton Forum and not having a Leisure and Community Hub to replace Carlton Forum would be disastrous. Also, the knock-on effect would have financial consequences for all the other leisure facilities which Gedling Borough Council operates.
As it stands, Carlton Forum is under a joint-use agreement with the County Council and the Redhill Academy Trust. I have this to say to the Conservatives: in all the time they were in office at County Hall they failed to put the significant investment that was needed into the structural integrity of Carlton Forum including the drains and sewers, despite it being part of the Joint Use Agreement with Gedling Borough Council. They can criticise all they want but if opposition councillors haven’t got an alternative plan and cannot admit that they failed to invest in assets they had responsibility for, then it’s a pointless exercise in spouting hot air.
It is absolute nonsense to say that we should wait for a new authority to decide on what to do with Carlton Forum. Local Government Reorganisation does not change the fact that Carlton Forum is structurally at end life. How much longer can the sewage be kept at bay?
Carlton Active will pay for itself in savings made in far lower energy costs for example, also as a flagship leisure and wellbeing centre there will be no shortage of people visiting and using the new Carlton Active.
What’s for sure is this: regardless of Local Government Reorganisation whoever takes over Gedling will inherit aging leisure facilities and will be faced with the same challenges that we are currently faced with.
What we are doing is investing in the future and ensuring Carlton, and indeed Gedling residents, have leisure facilities that are fit for purpose. We are most certainly not lumbering a new council with a white elephant.
As it stands, we are not closing Carlton Forum until the new Carlton Active is built. To sum up the stance opposition councillors are taking risks leaving Carlton with no leisure facilities at all and that’s not a risk we are prepared to take.
Finally, I won’t take any lectures on Indoor Bowls from the Conservatives when a Conservative Council not a million miles away evicted an Indoor Bowls Club in Rushcliffe. As a Council, our officers have been very diligent in trying to help the Gedling Indoor Bowls Club find an alternative venue.
