Demolition of police-run leisure centre underway
Demolition contractors have begun work taking down a former police-run leisure centre in County Durham, after the police authority concluded that they could no longer afford the upkeep.
The Aykley Heads leisure centre was costing Durham Police Authority some £213,000 a year to maintain. The force decided earlier this year to close it and are now taking it down, in the hope of taking away mothballing costs and raising the potential for the land to be redeveloped.
The police authority chairman, Peter Thompson, said that keeping the centre standing would have forced an increase in council tax, which he said was not an option.
"I regret the closure of the sports centre and the decision was not taken lightly," he said. "We felt that we had little choice in light of the severe spending cuts that have been imposed on us by the government. The alternative would have been to increase council tax to continue to pay for it which we did not want to do."
The leisure centre had originally been built to help with the recovery of officers who had been injured in the line of work. By the time of its closure, however, just 300 of its 1,100 members were police officers. Demolition of the building is expected to be completed by November.
