Campaigners angry at outdoor centre petition decision

A council's decision not to act on a petition to help save an outdoor centre has been met with an outcry from supporters.

North Tyneside Council members met on Thursday to respond to the petition calling for a six-month pause to the planned closure of local authority-owned High Borrans in Windermere, Cumbria.

Cries of "shame on you" were heard from the public gallery as councillors voted to note the 2,000-signature petition, rather than act upon it.

Dan Dembry-Edwards from campaign group Friends of High Borrans told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: "I really think it is a disgraceful decision, that is the only word I can use." The council has said the centre loses £200,000 a year.

High Borrans is due to be closed by its owner North Tyneside Council in November, after bosses said a multi-million pound repair bill and declining school visits had made the centre unviable.

Campaigners said the petition's proposed six-month grace period would allow for assessments of alternative proposals to be completed and keep the centre open for the whole school year while these were carried out.

Dembry-Edwards stated that Friends of High Borrans had already started to examine alternatives to shutting the centre down and asked the council "not to see this petition as a request to ignore financial realities, but to recognise there is still a question that has not been fully answered."

He added: "What could High Borrans look like if we were given six months to properly find out? We think this is a reasonable question to ask before an asset with this history, value and potential is closed."

After thanking the petitioners, Tracy Hallway, cabinet member for education and inclusion, said "this decision must be about children and opportunity" and "the facts are difficult but they cannot be ignored".

Hallway went on to state that fewer than half of the schools in North Tyneside use High Borrans, and instead use closer providers.

She said High Borrans loses £200,000 a year, requires £3m in maintenance, and had already seen £900,000 in investment from the council.

After the debate, the council's Labour majority voted to note the petition, rather than refer it back to the cabinet or the director of children's services.

Following the decision, councillor Rebecca O'Keefe said: "I am not shocked, but I really don't think that other Labour councillors would have come out and agreed with another option, it's disappointing."

O'Keefe was previously suspended from North Tyneside's ruling Labour party for a minimum of six months for defying the party whip and voting in favour of a cross-party review into the closure.

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