The Conservative Group on Cornwall Council have forced another u-turn from the ruling Liberal Democrat/Independent Cabinet as County Hall agreed today to fund leisure centre operator GLL to the tune of £6m in grants and loans to keep the county’s leisure centres open.
The move comes months of questions from Conservative Cornwall Councillors who have been demanding prompt action from the Cabinet since leisure centres were first allowed to reopen in July.
Commenting, Conservative Group Leader Linda Taylor said:
“Firstly today’s announcement is great news, both for the Cornish public and for the staff of our leisure centres.”
“I want to put on record my thanks to Conservative Councillors, who have led the campaign to get them fully reopened, and our Cornish MPs who quite rightly highlighted the fact that Cornwall Council has had millions of pounds of COVID-19 funding from the Government and should be able to use this funding to support its leisure centres through this crisis.”
“This is something the Conservative Group on Cornwall Council have been pressing the Cabinet to address since July and we have to ask, why did not they not make this decision sooner.”
“We are concerned though, that the deal as it stands could potentially leave swimming clubs open to increases in lane fees and charges, and will be pressing the administration for a freeze for these community assets.”
“We will continue to scrutinise and hold this administration to account and make sure they don’t have any more surprises for the Cornish taxpayer in the future.”
