Centre to close despite huge opposition

On Tuesday (September 19), Cllr Nick Bennett, East Sussex County Council’s lead member for resources and climate change, approved plans which will effectively lead to the closure of the leisure centre at Heathfield Community College.

The move comes in response to a Wealden District Council decision to hand back the centre after 20 years of leasing the building from the county council. As part of this arrangement, the district council’s leisure provider Freedom Leisure had run a community facility there outside college hours.

According to WDC, the decision was taken back in 2020 as it was “no longer considered helpful to have an additional tier of local government involved in running a county council owned facility.”

Since this decision, the county council has been seeking expressions of interest from businesses, which could have potentially taken over the running of the centre. Officers say the council was unable to find a viable alternative through this process, however.

Keeping the centre open, officers said, would result in costs which could not be justified as the county council does not have a legal duty to provide leisure facilities within its boundaries.

Even so, this summer ESCC held a public consultation seeking views on how to proceed. During this consultation WDC agreed to a short term lease extension until October 17.

While the vast majority of the 121 consultation respondents (92 per cent) opposed closure of the community use, officers say no financially viable alternatives came forward either.

It will remain in use by the college.