Gedling councillors have slammed their authority’s decision to exclude a long-standing bowls club in leisure centre redevelopment plans and called for a pause on decisions.
The group of Conservative councillors have called on Labour-run Gedling Borough Council to reconsider keeping the club in plans by ensuring the decision is re-assessed by a committee.
Gedling Borough Council has plans in the pipeline to build a brand-new ‘Carlton Active’ leisure centre on the site of the existing Richard Herrod Centre in Carlton.
This project will involve demolishing and replacing the Richard Herrod Centre and Carlton Forum Centre with the new, singular facility – but it will come at more than one cost.
Last Thursday (19), the council’s cabinet re-confirmed its stance that Gedling Indoor Bowls Club, based at the Richard Herrod Centre, would not be included in the Carlton Active scheme due “significant” design and money risks – leaving the club’s future vulnerable and members ‘angry and distressed’.
Gedling Indoor Bowls opened in 1987 and has around 320 members aged between 25 and 92, running 2,200 sessions each month, including for bowlers with disabilities. Members have been protesting for months to safeguard its future.
The authority said it would be continuing its offer of “non-financial” support to the club to help it look for relocation options.
Now, a group of authority’s Conservative councillors – Cllr Mike Adams, Cllr Martin Smith and Cllr Sam Smith – have triggered a “call-in” on the council’s decision to exclude the club from plans, meaning the decision is expected to further examined by its Overview and Scrutiny Committee.
Cllr Sam Smith said: “It’s an absolute disgrace the council has decided to close one of the only indoor bowling greens in the county on what seems to me is done on the back of a flawed process.
“There is a petition signed by hundreds of people [to reinstate the club in plans] that just seems to have been totally ignored by the cabinet – we’re asking for that to be reviewed and taken into account.”
Cllr Smith said the incoming reorganisation and merging of Nottinghamshire councils – meaning the borough council will not exist as it is in future – is another issue to consider.
He said: “Gedling is at a high risk of [merging with] Nottingham city. You’ve got the council who are about to spend millions of pounds building a new leisure centre that they’re going to hand the keys to the new authority for.”
In a statement announcing the ‘call-in’, Cllr Mike Adams said: “Residents engaged in good faith with this process, yet the strength of feeling from the community does not appear to have been properly recognised in the final decision – that is deeply concerning and warrants full scrutiny.”
Cllr Martin Smith said the club was “a lifeline, not a luxury” for many residents, with the Conservative councillors calling for the implementation of the council’s decision to be paused while the situation is re-examined.
Responding to the efforts to pause the council’s decision, Jenny Higgins, a director at the bowls club, told the LDRS it “welcomes” the step.
She said: “Indoor bowls is not a -‘nice to have’ – it is a lifeline.
“The depth of support shown is matched only by the depth of feeling in the community to save this much-needed and deeply loved sport, and to stop the displacement of the member and community bowlers without sufficient mitigation.
“This decision must now be paused and properly scrutinised. Anything less would ignore the people whose lives and wellbeing depend on this facility.”
Ian Summerscales, a fellow director at the club, told the LDRS it had been a “tough few days” for the club since the council’s decision but thanked the councillors who are showing their support.
He said: “The level of support we have received has at times felt overwhelming, but it shows the depth of feeling among not only club members but the wider community.”
Speaking at Thursday’s meeting, Councillor Henry Wheeler (Lab), portfolio holder for lifestyles, health and wellbeing, called the club “part of the fabric” of the community but reiterated the council’s financial risk.
He added: “The equality impact assessment recognises the importance of provision for older residents and those with conditions.
“Carlton Active responds with a fully accessible design and a dedicated exercise suite which uses power-assisted equipment, designed to support all adults, those with long-term health conditions, those undergoing rehabilitation.
“[The club’s] lease comes to a scheduled end on the 30th April, 2026, which has been known to the club for some time – this is not sudden or premature termination, it is not an eviction, it is a natural point of transition.”
Council leader, John Clarke (Lab), spoke of applying pressure, including to Nottinghamshire County Council, to find the bowls club a new home saying “we owe the bowls club”.
Two petitions have been set up since September to protect the club’s future, with one having more than 1,000 signatures.
Earlier council documents said both existing leisure centres faced more than £2 million in backlog works and require a yearly subsidy of around £545,000. The new wider project is currently estimated to cost just under £30 million.
