Dudley Councillors vote to support scrapping outsourcing after critical vote on leisure centres
Protestors are celebrating after winning a crucial vote at Dudley Council on the future of the borough’s leisure centres.
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The ruling Conservative group had invited bids to outsource centres in Stourbridge, Dudley and Halesowen but at a meeting of the full council on March 3 councillors voted to recommend centres in council control.
Ahead of the meeting, trade unionists plus Labour and Liberal Democrat councillors gathered on the steps of the council house to demand an end to the outsourcing plan.
Dudley Labour leader, Cllr Pete Lowe, told protestors: “This is a real opportunity to say ‘keep your hands off our leisure centres’ and ‘we want them retained within Dudley Council’.
“Our message is loud and clear – public services run by the public sector.”
Another supporter of the campaign is Stourbridge MP Cat Eccles, who is also a Labour member of Dudley Council.
Cllr Eccles MP said: “The council has committed to keep leisure centres open for the next five years but it is not clear what format that will be in.
“The main thing we are worried about is people’s jobs, if it went into private hands we wouldn’t necessarily get an agreement for those employees to remain in the same contracts and the same roles.
“We want to ensure there is no loss of jobs and no loss of service for local people.”
The council meeting combined a debate on a petition of 5,000 names against outsourcing and a motion from Cllr Ellen Cobb recommending the council’s cabinet should stop the tendering process and keep leisure centres in public control.
Cllr Phil Atkins, the Conservative cabinet member for corporate strategy, said: “We cannot afford to maintain the current subsidy, £2.4m, and so we are exploring options to reduce costs while maintaining all the leisure centres.
“We aren’t selling off our leisure centres, outsourcing will only be considered if there is a financial benefit for the authority.”
He added the tendering process had already been completed and bids are now going to be reviewed by officers.
After the debate the motion was passed although the fight against outsourcing will continue at cabinet and when their decision returns to full council for approval.
