Two popular leisure centres have been saved from the threat of closure after a council ditched a plan to cut services.
Gedling Borough Council has chosen to keep its leisure services running at Calverton and Redhill leisure centres following public pushback.
The council has been reviewing its entire leisure offer as part of a new strategy to make its portfolio more financially sustainable.
The Labour-led council currently provides a £1.3 million subsidy every year to help run all of its leisure centres, but the authority said this was “not sustainable”.
Part of this review stoked fears for the future of Calverton and Redhill leisure centres, where the authority was considering withdrawing from the joint agreements across the sites.
The council currently operates and manages Calverton Leisure Centre and Redhill Leisure Centre, but there are joint-use agreements in place with Redhill Academy Trust, which runs the school site, and Nottinghamshire County Council, which owns the Calverton centre .
This meant the council was effectively assessing whether to withdraw its leisure services from the two buildings and looking at alternatives.
• Two main West Bridgford roads to be resurfaced as concerns raised over winter pothole response
But on Thursday (March 26), the authority’s cabinet decided against this following public pushback.
Back in January, Calverton residents set up a petition to try prevent the decision – due to fears it could cause Calverton Leisure Centre to be closed down in future – which received 286 signatures.
A public consultation towards the end of 2025 resulted in 71 per cent of respondents saying they would not support the council’s decision to withdraw its leisure services from the Calverton centre, where many users walk to the centre.
For Redhill, 57 per cent indicated they would support withdrawal if it allowed investment in a newer, modern leisure service elsewhere in Gedling.
Speaking in Thursday’s cabinet meeting, Councillor Henry Wheeler (Lab), portfolio holder for lifestyles, health and wellbeing, said: “If there’s one thing that’s really annoyed me during this whole process it’s been the inaccurate statements being made about the future of the council’s leisure assets, mostly Calverton.
“There’s been a lot said and significant statements from various local politicians have been made.
“During all our process, no decision on the future of Calverton [Leisure Centre] had actually been made.
“In the consultation, nowhere did it say we was actually closing Redhill or Calverton – what it did say in one sentence was the word ‘may’… and to work with partners and the parish council to look at alternative ways of managing our leisure assets. At no point did it say we will dispose of those assets or serving notice.”
Cllr Wheeler continued that he was pleased the authority was “committed” to keeping the leisure centres “in-house and operated by the council”.
Independent councillor, Andy Meads, who represents Calverton, had been campaigning to protect the Calverton centre.
The council’s plans to remain operating at both leisure centres was formally published the week before Thursday’s meeting – this information was available publicly.
The number of visits to both centres have increased in the past three years.
In 2022/23, there were 104,037 visits to Calverton Leisure Centre, increasing to 157,676 in 2024/25.
For the Redhill site, there were 181,444 visits in 2022/23, rising to just over 200,000 in 2023/24 and were 187,609 in 2024/25.
Alongside the council’s decision, the authority is continuing to progress with its plans for the new ‘Carlton Active’ facility – a modern building that will replace the “ageing” Carlton Forum and Richard Herrod centres and be built on the Richard Herrod site in future.
