WARNING: The Cracking Wall of the Leisure Centre

The photograph above, taken by me on 16 February 2026, shows the exterior north-east wall of Shirebrook Leisure Centre. You do not have to be a builder to look at it and understand: this wall is cracking, and if nothing is done, this building could end up as a useless pile of bricks, unsafe for public use.

Maybe it is minor damage, and STC can fix it with a small investment — but what if it is not? What if it is a signal of a potential forthcoming structural failure? Labour has already let STC collapse financially — two years of deficit in a row — and politically, with nine resignations. Are they now going to wait for the Leisure Centre to collapse physically?

THE TRUTH ABOUT THE FINANCES
Councillor Michael Yates of the Labour Party proposed selling off yet another STC property. Last time, Labour sold land east of Lidl. This time, they are selling a residential property owned by STC. This will delay the financial reckoning by a few months. Labour will plug the existing hole, sweep criticism under the carpet, and call it a success. Then they will lose the next election, dump all the problems on the doorstep of the next councillors, and proceed to cry to high heaven about how incompetent the new council is.

WHEN DID IT START?
In my view, the Labour Party has known about these problems for years. The neglect does not stem from a single moment of poor judgment — it is the result of years of substandard management and the persistent ignoring of growing problems. From what I have observed, Labour was so focused on net-zero contracts and expanding the staffing payroll that basic maintenance and reserve-building were neglected.

The majority of tax rises were absorbed by pay rises and wage costs for STC staff — money that could have been set aside for maintenance and reserves. Now, someone will have to pay the bill for that neglect. That someone is you.

THE LEISURE CENTRE’S FUTURE IS BLEAK — BUT IT CAN BE SAVED
Repairing years of neglect will require drastic decisions. I have drafted a list of potential ways forward, and even though it is a long list, the majority of these solutions are complicated — borderline impossible given STC’s current financial situation. In reality, the options are very limited:
Option one: Making a significant number of STC staff redundant — at least 30% — which STC cannot afford, as they would have to pay redundancy packages.

Option two: Radically cutting expenditure, which will be difficult in the face of new obligations, the need for enormous spending on maintenance of neglected buildings, and the cost of sustaining a large workforce.

Option three: Raising taxes dramatically. A significant tax rise for next year cannot be ruled out — and in my view, even a large increase may not be sufficient to close the gap.

Option four: Taking a PWLB loan to build a new Leisure Centre — not a £12,000,000 loan, but a much smaller one (the current PWLB interest rate is 5.57%). Close the old Leisure Centre for two to three years and build a new one in its place or at the top of the hill. Based on the council’s own projected expenditure figures, closing the Leisure Centre for three years would save approximately £1,200,000 in running costs — enough to significantly offset the cost of a new build.

Option five: Fix the wall. STC would need to do it transparently and professionally. I have no idea how much it would cost or what surveyors would find — but this should be the starting point. Commission a professional structural investigation, find out exactly how dangerous this crack is, and publish the findings. Transparently. Before anything else, we need to know what we are dealing with.

Option six: Outsource or transfer the Leisure Centre to a trust, charity, or Community Interest Company. Many councils across the country have done exactly this — transferring operations to organisations like Everyone Active or GLL, which run leisure facilities more efficiently, remove staffing costs from the council payroll entirely, and can access grant funding that a council cannot. The council would retain ownership of the building but exit the operational burden. This is one of the most commonly used solutions nationally and it deserves serious consideration here.

Option seven: Seek external grant funding for the building repair before making any larger decisions. Sport England, the National Lottery Community Fund, and the UK Shared Prosperity Fund have all funded leisure facility repairs and upgrades. A professional structural survey combined with a well-prepared grant application could potentially fund the repair without touching the precept at all. We will not know until someone actually tries.

Option eight: Partial closure and downsizing. Rather than full closure or full continuation at current cost, reduce the Leisure Centre to its most-used and most cost-effective services only. If the pool is the single most expensive element to maintain, heat, and staff, closing it while retaining the gym and other facilities could significantly reduce the annual burden without removing the building from community use entirely.

Option nine: Commercial partnership or lease. Lease part of the building — or the entire operation — to a private operator who takes on the running costs in exchange for a lease agreement, while the council retains ownership of the asset. This protects the long-term community asset while removing the day-to-day financial liability from the council budget.

Option ten: Close the Leisure Centre permanently, demolish the building, and make the entire workforce redundant. In the long term this would save approximately £300,000 per year based on current projected expenditure and income figures. This is the nuclear option. I do not advocate for it. But it exists, and anyone serious about the finances has to acknowledge it.

None of these options — excluding option five — are straightforward, because the Leisure Centre’s financial burden is currently dragging the whole town down. Just look at the scale of it:


I DO NOT WANT TO CLOSE THE LEISURE CENTRE
For some time, certain people have been spreading the rumour that I want to close the Leisure Centre. That is not true. I never had any such intention. What I wanted — and still want — is increased scrutiny, a proper audit, and if that audit reveals what I suspect, to tear up unfavourable contracts, seek additional income streams, and pursue every available grant.

There are many things that set Shirebrook apart from other towns in the region, and the Leisure Centre is one of the main ones. I want to conserve what is good, reform what is bad, and listen to every idea on how to build new, good things.

AM I CRAZY, OR ARE THEY?
I am a simple, working-class man. I believe the books should be balanced. Then I look at STC’s books and see a complete disregard for common sense. I have been attending STC meetings since 2019, and Councillor Andrew Stevens was the first ever to say it straight: there is an £80,000 monthly deficit as of January 2026.

I had been waiting seven years to hear a councillor admit it publicly. It shocked me — because until that moment, not one of them had. It shocked me enough that I decided to download and analyse the data myself, and produce the chart below so you can see for yourself what is actually happening with STC’s finances.

The November figure is particularly striking. That single month — £92,846 in the red — is more than half of what the council earns from the Leisure Centre in an entire year. In other words, the Leisure Centre runs ten months in the red, and its income covers just two months of operations.

Councillor Andrew Stevens also said that the council is working to fix this. I hope he can overcome Labour’s tendency to do nothing and just raise taxes. But then I put all the financial data together and… the picture is clear: this deficit is simply business as usual under Labour-led STC. Just look at this:

The Labour policy of raising taxes every year regardless of outcomes must end. We need to look at ourselves and finally admit: we cannot afford to have the Labour Party at the helm of STC.

Sylwester Zwierzynski
Lead picture: author
Comic strip: my script, MJ created