Bid to rush centre closure a ‘disgrace’
A SENIOR council officer has received angry responses after suggesting that councillors back renewed attempts to shut a leisure centre whose closure was halted by the High Court.
Campaigners hoping to keep Pontllanfraith Leisure Centre open won an order obliging Caerphilly council to consider the equality implications of shutting it down.
But they failed to persuade the court that the council had handled other aspects of the matter unlawfully, and are appealing.
The council’s interim corporate director of communities, Mark Williams, has written to all councillors outlining in detail the case for closing the leisure centre.
Labour councillor Tom Williams wrote back to him stating: “I am staggered to read such a blatant piece of propaganda as this.
“Not only is it unethical to send such an email before this special scrutiny meeting, it is fundamentally misleading.
“We were told at Labour group in July that nothing could be discussed until the court ruling was considered by the Court of Appeal. At no time have we as Labour councillors been told anything different. So to try and rush this closure through is absolutely disgraceful.
“We should listen to the people we serve and oppose this closure.”
Asked about the email exchange, a spokesman for Caerphilly council said: “An email was sent to all councillors containing useful, factually correct information to assist them in responding to any queries from their constituents about this matter.”