Leisure services going back to the future

ROSSENDALE’S Leisure organisation, which runs some of the sports centres in the borough, and recently took on Ski Rossendale, is now also going to take on responsibility for the Whitaker Museum in

Rawtenstall and also leisure facilities in Whitworth.

The argument from the council and Rossendale Leisure Trust, which runs leisure services which many councils run directly themselves, is that bringing services together makes them better equipped to deal with the ongoing fallout of the pandemic.

It’s also a little bit back to the future. Rossendale Council moved away from direct running of the Whitaker several years ago as funding cuts from government hit hard.

Go further even back into history and Rossendale Council planned to shut the baths in Whitworth before Community Leisure Association in Whitworth took it over back in 2002.

Council leader Alyson Barnes says the council ‘is just trying to keep the show on the road’ during the pandemic.

It’s a shame such resolve wasn’t displayed back in 2013, when Rossendale Council jettisoned the baths in Haslingden, turning a popular community facility into an abandoned, derelict eyesore.

Quite publicly, Labour’s Jackie Oakes has pledged that the council will honour its promises to leisure services in Whitworth.

That’s a guarantee the people of Haslingden didn’t get – they were promised a brand new pool, the council even took out a loan to pay for it, before changing its mind and moving the money to regeneration in Rawtenstall.

Readers in Haslingden might wonder why their town always seems to lose out.