Last night, Monday 6 February 2023, Rutland Councillors faced the wrath of angry users of Catmose Sports Centre and concerned parents, who will be losing both a leisure facility and child care service when the centre closes on 31 March this year.

"You haven't heard the last of this!" was the promise from one attendee of the meeting.

Conservative Councillor and Leader of the council, Cllr Lucy Stephenson explained: "The cabinet has had to make a very hard decision on whether we could afford to take on the risks associated with subsidising a commercial leisure centre in the current financial climate. We have subsidised the current contract holder,

"Stevenage Leisure Ltd for two years beyond the point where their contract was due to finish because of covid but after tendering out the contract we have received no suitable offers to run the centre as a zero-cost facility, and sadly we have no option available to us other than closure.

"However, we understood the impact this will have on community clubs and we're confident that our relationship with Catmose College will allow us to find a solution before current arrangements end. Both the council and college want clubs and groups to be able to use the facilities after March, so we are intending to use a one-off funding allocated for sport, leisure and recreation to enable Catmose College to sustain community access beyond March 31, 2023.

"Importantly, this would not impact on the council's revenue budget or increase financial pressure on the authority. The college is looking carefully at what it needs to make this happen, which will then allow the council to finalise support. Beyond this, we feel strongly that Rutland's wider sport, leisure and recreation offer can meet the long-term needs of the other Catmose Sports Centre users."

The audience, however, disagreed, speaking out about how important the facility is to them, their families and their community.

It was suggested by some that the Council had not given the decision to close enough thought, and that the costs of future mental and physical health care, as well as the need for added public transport to access facilities outside of Oakham, would cost the council significantly more than it would to support the gym - which over a decade has cost the Council £400,000. This is less than the £425,000 given to Rutland Museum annually.

Members of the public in attendance added that it was not only a gym that would be lost, but a community and a key childcare provider in the local area.

One Rutlander, whose two children are both under eight years of age, had been using the 'Wild Camp' childcare facilities at Catmose as recently as Christmas. She said: "At any point was it discussed that Wild Camp would be taken away from everybody in Rutland? I've been emailing Cllr David Wilby. I've followed the contact structure that I'm supposed to, because as of eight weeks' time at the Easter Holidays, me, and all the other parents that use Wild Camp have no childcare. Not one person has been able to give me a childcare provider that will do Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm – the solution you did suggest, Kaleidoscope, are only open for two weeks in the summer holidays."

Another individual complained that there had been no consultation with any of the 900 members of the sports centre, many of whom said they would gladly have allowed their subscriptions to increase, rather than lose the facility. One complained: "My green bin has gone up from £30 to £40 to £50 a fortnight to be collected. I'd rather forego the bin being collected and use that £50 to keep my sports community going as it is a vital part of my social life."

Individuals also shared individual stories of mental health struggles, and how Catmose had been a life line for them, some attributing the community atmosphere found a the gym as a main reason they could continue to work and thrive.

One local woman queried the prompting of the decision to close the centre: "I wonder if this closure has been encouraged by the need to extend Catmose College."

Cllr Stephenson assured the public that this was not the case.

Nearing the conclusion of the meeting, and with much support from the rest of the general public in attendance, one member of Catmose Sports Centre shouted to Cllr Stephenson: "You haven't heard the last of this!" She promised that she would return with the petition to discuss the closure with the rest of the council and other passionate members who resisted the closure.

Most of the public walked out as Cllr Stephenson made her final speech, a last stand by a group of individuals who voiced their dissatisfaction and frustration at the outcome of the meeting.