Leisure plans ‘not a done deal’
PLANS to run leisure services in South Tyneside as a charitable trust are not a done deal, senior councillors have been told.
Temple Park Centre in South Shields, Hebburn Swimming Pool and Jarrow’s Monkton Stadium could get an entirely new management structure under cost-saving plans being considered by South Tyneside Council.
The authority needs to make £35m worth of cuts over the next year, and setting up a charitable trust to run leisure activities is seen as a way of reducing the borough’s £11.53m annual leisure budget.
The money would be saved as charitable trusts receive relief from the payment of non-domestic rates, and partial exemption from VAT.
Yesterday a series of recommendations drawn up by a council scrutiny commission into the plan was presented to members of the authority’s decision-making cabinet.