Community leaders trying to save Gateshead leisure centres that are set to close next month say they are “working tirelessly” to secure their future.

It emerged on Wednesday that Gateshead Leisure Centre and Birtley Swimming Centre are set to be shut down on July 21, a decision that is expected to be signed off next week. Gateshead Council has said it cannot afford to keep the sites running as it slashes its budgets, but admitted that the closures would be “heartbreaking”.

However, there is genuine hope that both facilities can be reopened in a matter of months. Groups are working on community asset transfers that would see the centres handed over to new management and brought back into use.

Read More: Gateshead Leisure Centre and Birtley pool set to shut down in July – but both could still reopen

At Gateshead Leisure Centre in Saltwell, which is the best-used facility in the borough, a new Gateshead Active organisation is hoping to take the keys to the site in the autumn. Their plans include reopening the centre’s disused café and climbing wall.

Former councillor Robert Waugh, who is heavily involved with the asset transfer, said: “Our group of volunteers are working tirelessly with the council, funders and partners to make sure the centre can have a future long term. We want to make sure any closure is for the shortest possible time, while ensuring that our business plan is strong, financially viable but with a focus on delivering what our community wants.”

He added: “We have had commitments for 90% of our initial funding target already and we are confident in the coming weeks we can announce much more detail including planned opening hours, improvement to facilities in the centre and exciting new activities that will be taking place in it.”

Meanwhile, the Gateshead and Whickham Swimming Club and the Birtley Swimming Club have joined forces to try and take over the running of Birtley Swimming Centre. Their plans are thought to be at an earlier stage than Gateshead Active’s and could see the pool reopen in April 2024.

Gateshead and Whickham club chair Stevie Speight told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: “We need to be realistic and what we want is for the pool to be sustainable when it reopens. If that takes time [until next year] for it to be done right then that is what we will do.

“It is not because we are delaying, it is because we want to get it right for the community. I am not going to open a facility for the community, only for it to become insolvent. If it takes a little bit longer than we would like, then so be it. We need to make sure we get it right.”

The council has claimed it is not financially viable to keep the centres open until the asset transfers can be completed. Bosses told the Local Democracy Reporting Service that cutting the number of facilities they run should make them less susceptible to short-notice closures caused by staff shortages, a situation that led to Heworth Leisure Centre being shut for eight weeks last summer.

They have also pledged to protect the centres that are shutting down until they can be handed over to new owners – promising not to drain their swimming pools and to put security measures in place to deter anti-social behaviour.

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