Dewsbury leisure centre closure damaging health, campaigners say

Last year Dewsbury Sports Centre – deemed unsafe because of dangerous concrete – shut its doors for the final time. Senior councillors have now agreed to proceed with developing a “once in a generation” replacement, but campaigners fear people’s health will deteriorate as a result of having no sports facilities in the meantime.

Robin Price, 81, is a retired mechanic and is used to living an active life, which he says has centred on Dewsbury Sports Centre in recent years.

However, the site initially closed in 2023 when potentially dangerous reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (Raac) was discovered. It later closed permanently.

Mr Price says any new centre needs to be in an accessible location.

“Kirklees Council don’t know where they are going to put it. Definitely not here on the old site,” he says.

“A sports centre needs to be near a bus station, otherwise it is only people with cars who can go.”

Robin feels the existing site, on Longcauseway, could have been repaired.

He also worries about the impact of the closure on children, who could spend the next few years without access to sports facilities.

“All the children who are 10 now, they’ll lose that part of their life where they need sport,” he says.

And he believes it will take so long to build a new centre that he will not be alive to see it.

Surraya Patel is a fitness instructor who has been leading a campaign to reopen the leisure centre since 2023.

She says the closure has has been “hugely detrimental”.

“We’ve seen a huge decline in health across the board,” she says.

“We are seeing the impact physically as well as emotionally.”

She accepts that a new centre might cater for the community’s needs but fears it could take years to complete.

Surraya believes the closed centre would be “fit for purpose” with minimum repair work.

“We don’t need a vanity project, we need something right now before we lose a generation.”

Sara, 13, agrees the closure is causing problems for young people.

She says she is not able to learn how to swim as a result and feels sad that her sister is not learning how to swim either.

“I am at a disadvantage compared to many of my other friends in other areas and I don’t have the sports facilities they do,” she says.

The campaign group hopes the latest discussions will be a step in the right direction but Surraya says there is still no set timeline for the works, no information about where the new centre would be built and no information about proposed facilities.

Hanifa Darwan, independent councillor for Dewsbury South, says the closure of the leisure centre has been “absolutely terrible” for the community.

“People have got more depressed and we are seeing more crime and kids hanging around doing nothing,” she says.

She feels she has to be “optimistic” about plans for the new centre – but says she also has many questions.

“I am worried the council doesn’t have the money and I hope they are not giving the community false hope now local elections are coming next year,” Hanifa says.

“Where is the money coming from? What is the location? And how are they going to run it? If they can provide that information I’d say, ‘wow, let’s see it.'”

A recent report into physical activity in the region found the area around Batley and Dewsbury had some of the lowest activity levels in the country.

Kirklees Council leader Carole Pattison believes a new approach is needed “that really listens to residents’ experiences and delivers the right facilities that will make a difference to people’s lives”.

“There’s a lot more work to do, but this is a once in a generation decision and we need to get it right for families and communities across north Kirklees for decades to come,” she says.

Following approval of the initial plans a feasibility study will be carried out to decide on a location and the type of facilities residents most needed, a council spokesperson added.