Doncaster’s crumbling St James’ Leisure Centre is to shut for good - unless £2 million can be found to make it safe.
Leisure bosses have announced today that the doors of
the Grade II listed building will remain shut and staff will be
redeployed to other leisure centres in the town.
And with neither
the Trust which runs the venue or Doncaster Council having the cash
available for repairs, the building, which dates from 1932 and which
once played host to a concert by The Beatles, now faces an uncertain
future.
Condition surveys have identified the requirement for a
minimum of £2million worth of capital investment to make the venue safe
for public use.
Andrew Burden, chair of trustees at Doncaster
Culture and Leisure Trust said: “This is not a decision that has been
taken lightly and we know that St James is a much loved venue with
historical significance to the area.
“We apologise to our loyal
members who will be affected by this decision but we hope that people
understand that it is a consequence of ensuring both the safety of
valued customers and staff of DCLT.
The building closed its doors
earlier this year after a roof collapse and then shut again last month
after more structural problems.
“The most recent closure was the
third incident to occur at the venue in the past year as a result of
building health and safety. Previously the building has been made safe
working with the HSE but the latest infrastructure fault was located in a
high traffic, customer area which posed increased risk.
“Condition
surveys are now complete and have identified the requirement for a
minimum £2 million capital investment in the fabric of the building to
make it structurally safe.
“St James Leisure Centre has an
identified operating budget but the site only has a minimal repair and
maintenance allocation in this revenue stream.“We now believe the venue is unsafe and cannot be reopened in its current state, due to the nature of these occurrences.“The
Trust and Doncaster Council do not have sufficient funds within the
capital maintenance budgets to meet this huge investment and therefore
until the necessary funds can be identified, the Trust, as tenant and
the council, as landlord have taken the unfortunate decision to keep the
centre closed for the foreseeable future. There will be no job losses
as a result of this decision as all staff will be redeployed to other
DCLT sites.“Members will be offered use of our alternative sites
and while we appreciate the Turkish Baths users will be disappointed;
use of the spa facilities at the Dome will be an option for them.”
Councillor
Bob Johnson, Cabinet Member for Leisure and Culture, said: “It is sad
that we have to close such an old building but unfortunately due to its
age a number of severe problems have been identified. We are working
with Doncaster Culture and Leisure Trust to find a viable solution for
the future of the site.”The swimming pool and gym facilities
re-opened after the original fault but the centre’s Turkish baths, one
of only a handful of remaining traditonal baths in England, have been
closed since the original incident.The historic town centre
swimming pool, built in 1932, once played host to The Beatles as well as
The Searchers and Freddie and The Dreamers during the 1960s.
The building was saved from demolition last year after being given listed building status.
The
centre was threatened with the bulldozer as part of Doncaster Council’s
£300 million Civic and Cultural Quarter development, which has included
the construction of new council offices, a town square, and a new
theatre venue, Cast, in the area.Campaigner Ray Nortrop, who died
last year, made an application to the Secretary of State for the
leisure centre building to be protected and the Government, backed by
English Heritage, agreed and the building was given Grade II listed
status and incorporated into the new project.
No comments:
Post a Comment