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Threat to the Springfield Centre
"THE FUTURE OF LEISURE FACILITIES IN CORSHAM & WILTSHIRE
I hope that all Club members are aware that Wiltshire County Council is currently considering how best to provide leisure facilities across the County into the future. The local press has reported stories about facilities closing or being forced to be run by local communities, plus the building of new facilities to serve a wider audience.
The "threat" is that the Springfield Leisure Centre will close after 2015, beyond which Wilts County Council is not prepared to be involved, other than providing a diminishing funding line until 2020. The plan is to hand over the facility to the local community in much the same way as the The Whitehorse Leisure Centre in Calne was forced to run, following the disastrous attempts by the former North Wilts District Council to close Leisure Centres a few years back.
One of my roles is to sit on the User Group of Springfield Leisure Centre, which is useful in terms of bringing together all parties with an interest in the Centre's facilities. We now have the added bonus of being joined in our campaign by the Chair of Corsham Town Council, who is already marshalling the support of all sports Clubs, the local schools, DC Leisure and other interested parties in Corsham. Given this level of commitment, it is felt that we can secure the long term future of the Centre, particularly as it is seen as the natural "hub" for leisure provision in the town.
This time, we do have time to plan for the future and it is vital, therefore, that as many of the Club's parents, members and supporters get involved at the Consultation stage. There is a link below which will take you straight to the Consultation Document and I would urge all of you to complete it. I promise it will not take long to complete and will show our Councillors that we want to get involved and keep our Leisure Centres open.
One final message. Local Council's are not obliged to provide Leisure Facilities, even though swimming is part of the school curricula. With this in mind, please be as positive and realistic when filling in the Consultation document.
Thanks for reading this and, hopefully, for completing the Consultation document.
Regards,
Alan Hall
Chair
Corsham ASC
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