Protesters march against Underwood Leisure Centre axe

9:12am Friday 25th January 2013 in Gwent news

ANGRY: Some of the protesters hand in a petition at Newport Civic Centre ANGRY: Some of the protesters hand in a petition at Newport Civic Centre

PROTESTERS marched through Newport city centre yesterday afternoon in a bid to save Underwood Leisure Centre from closure.

Dozens of angry residents from Underwood and the surrounding areas walked from Clarence Place to the Civic Centre to hand in a 1,700-strong signed petition, shortly before a meeting of Newport council at 5pm.

A further 800 people have signed an online petition, and the group have also handed out 800 protest letters for residents to send to the council.

Martyn Kellaway, Conservative councillor for Langstone said: “The leisure centre is all they have in the ward. They don’t have any other facilities or places to meet. Everyone is up in arms about it, but the council just does not want to listen.”

If shut, the leisure centre could save the council £58,000 out of the £8.4million it needs.

Protest organiser Anna Erickson, 30, who lives on Birch Grove near the leisure centre said: “We have been in this situation a few times now. There are gymnastics clubs, football, dance, a gym and kickboxing groups who all use the centre. Apart from the shop the leisure centre is the only thing we have got down here.

“We managed to save the leisure centre last time but they haven’t spent any money on it since then, the council has just cut its opening hours.”

The leisure centre is one of a number of facilities which could close – including care homes and schools – which may mean it is overlooked, said Miss Erickson.

Kelly Pring, from Underwood, said: “My son plays football every Saturday at the centre and he loves it. The centre is the only thing we have to keep kids off the streets – we don’t have youth clubs or anything like that. It’s all we have.

“It does seem very unfair to take it away from us. To use any similar facilities, we will have to take two buses, which will obviously cost us a lot more in the long run.”

Visit newport.gov.uk/ haveyoursay to comment on the council’s proposals before February 13.

Feedback will be considered by cabinet on February 18 and the final budget will be considered by full council on February 26.

Comments(13)

scraptheWAG says...
9:24am Fri 25 Jan 13

oh dear labours years of waste all coming home

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whatintheworld says...
11:59am Fri 25 Jan 13

scraptheWAG wrote:
oh dear labours years of waste all coming home
while i can't argue with the fact labour were wasteful while in government, this closure is not their fault. we're part of a world wide recession and everyone is paying the price.

good for the protesters though!

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scraptheWAG says...
12:53pm Fri 25 Jan 13

you don't ever hear of redundancies or pay cuts at the WAG it expands at a pace ofknots not closures down there!!!

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whatintheworld says...
1:05pm Fri 25 Jan 13

central government have cut funding to the wag - dramatically, so an expansion at a pace of knots would be impossible.

i'm all for a review of the wag, but imo, scrapping it would be against Wales' interests.

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Woodgnome says...
1:10pm Fri 25 Jan 13

Well done Underwood - a strong community who pull together. Their protest on traveller sites was also a model of how to do it - but on that subject this Labour Council, despite it's so called consultation exercise has kept all it's options open so don't be fooled into thinking a traveller site is off the agenda for your area.

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maninundy's says...
1:51pm Fri 25 Jan 13

Sell the leisure centre to a private company then the council can fund the membership to community who use it...membership valid if they use the facility more than 10 times in three months ..see how much support this centre really has...

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Llanmartinangel says...
2:50pm Fri 25 Jan 13

whatintheworld wrote:
central government have cut funding to the wag - dramatically, so an expansion at a pace of knots would be impossible.

i'm all for a review of the wag, but imo, scrapping it would be against Wales' interests.
Can you name one worthwhile thing the WAG has achieved since it's pathetic existence? I'll give you a start, carrier bags, legislation on sun beds (presumably to protect stupid people), oh and a proposal to buy a failing airport in the forlorn hope that they can create demand for it, despite all the evidence that the passengers have legged it. On the downside, their administration of the Health Service has been a complete disgrace although we do now have the most ostentatiously funded and supported archaic minority language in the world.

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whatintheworld says...
3:32pm Fri 25 Jan 13

Llanmartinangel wrote:
whatintheworld wrote:
central government have cut funding to the wag - dramatically, so an expansion at a pace of knots would be impossible.

i'm all for a review of the wag, but imo, scrapping it would be against Wales' interests.
Can you name one worthwhile thing the WAG has achieved since it's pathetic existence? I'll give you a start, carrier bags, legislation on sun beds (presumably to protect stupid people), oh and a proposal to buy a failing airport in the forlorn hope that they can create demand for it, despite all the evidence that the passengers have legged it. On the downside, their administration of the Health Service has been a complete disgrace although we do now have the most ostentatiously funded and supported archaic minority language in the world.
That's far too easy LMA..

First to appoint a Children's Commissioner
Abolished prescription charges
Scrapped school league tables
Free milk in schools
Free breakfasts in schools
Creation of enterprize zones
Subsidisation of university fees
Introduced flat rate of contribution towards the cost of nursing care
No smoking in public places
Investment in renewable energy and recycling
Grants for insulation and new boilers
Free bus passes for the over-60s and the disabled
Free entry to national museums and galleries
Welsh Jobs Fund to replace Future Jobs Fund.

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Llanmartinangel says...
6:02pm Fri 25 Jan 13

The majority of those 'benefits' exist in England so would have happened without the £0.6 Bilkion, (not including civil service costs) that WAG has cost already. One can safely assume that, had the money benefitted Wales directly, instead of vaporising on admin, then we'd have been significantly better off.

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Mr Bump. says...
8:07pm Fri 25 Jan 13

Llanmartinangel, the Majority of the people of Wales that could be bothered to vote, voted for it, if you don't like it, sod off to England.

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Llanmartinangel says...
11:24pm Fri 25 Jan 13

Mr Bump. wrote:
Llanmartinangel, the Majority of the people of Wales that could be bothered to vote, voted for it, if you don't like it, sod off to England.
I thought the cornerstone of democracy was free speech. And that is what I'm doing, speaking freely. If you don't like it, sod of to North Korea,

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Goldy_Lookin_Clart says...
11:56am Sat 26 Jan 13

I reckon they should build a nice travellers site on the A48 going through Llangstone. The old truckers cafe near coldra would be ace. Ease of access ius the key.

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Woodgnome says...
8:53am Sun 27 Jan 13

Goldy_Lookin_Clart wrote:
I reckon they should build a nice travellers site on the A48 going through Llangstone. The old truckers cafe near coldra would be ace. Ease of access ius the key.
Sorry Goldy, the site has already got planning permission to be carpeted with housing for non traveller folks, though the Labour Council would love to put a traveller site in the midslt of it all.no doubt.

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