Grassroots sport suffers while centre remains closed to the public
PENTWYN Leisure Centre remains closed to the public following the fire-break lockdown despite the city’s other leisure centres run by the Better company reopening yesterday.
The centre continues to be used by the Cardiff Blues Rugby team, while their Cardiff Arms Park training ground is used as part of the Dragon’s Heart Hospital.
Richard Horwood, first team manager at Pentwyn Dynamos football club, said the use of the centre by the Blues has inconvenienced his team whose football pitch, which the club’s teams have used for 25 years, is being used by the Blues.
“We were sent an email in July saying that the council would be resurfacing the pitch, the Blues would temporarily use it and then after this we would have an improved pitch. Then we saw our barriers and dug outs being dug up and removed. It’s been turned into a rugby pitch, its not a football pitch anymore, they’ve brought in rugby posts.
“We put a lot of money into our pitch, we’ve paid for grass seed and fertiliser, we bought a lawnmower to cut the grass.”
“Our team are all local players, it’s a local team. For us moving from that pitch to play elsewhere is not feasible; it’s too expensive.
“It’s soul destroying, we’ve had so little communication, we’ve only had a couple of updates when I have emailed them, we don’t know what to do. We had sponsorships lined up for our barriers, now we’re having to tell them we don’t have a pitch anymore.
“We’re having to go to random fields to train. It’s really sad that this rich rugby team that could go anywhere has taken our pitch when it’s the only place our local team has.”
Over 230 local residents have signed a petition for the Bryn Celyn Road centre to be reopened to the public, which will be submitted at the next Cardiff Council meeting.
Pentwyn Councillor Joseph Carter, who has organised the campaign to reopen the leisure centre to the public, said: “There’s a health inequality issue here. We’ve got areas of deprivation, people who need to have access to leisure facilities.
“One of the key determiners for people who have a really bad time with Covid is due to poor health and lack of access to exercise. We’ve had children stuck at home for large parts of the year and unable to swim and do sports.
“We’ve been told that once the council built their new Covid facility then the Dragon’s Heart Hospital would be dismantled, the Blues would get their ground back and we’d get our leisure centre back, but there’s no dates on that at the moment.
“The worry is that groups may start to set up in other parts of the city where they can find space which might not be accessible to all our people.
“We’re really surprised that rather than go somewhere in Leckwith they came here instead. And we think the reason they came to a leisure centre rather than a private hotel or facility was cost.
“Obviously it suited Better to get some money in when leisure centres were closed. When they were closed there was a real sense of pride here; it was wonderful that we could have our leisure centre used for something while it couldn’t be open, but we never imagined that that meant that when every other leisure centre opened ours would stay shut.”
Councillor Carter added that the issue is dividing the local community.
“It’s been a very divisive issue, sadly some very fanatical Cardiff Blues supporters see it as a case of us vs them,” he said.
“We have faced trolling from supporters, who in many cases don’t even live here, but who have argued that we should sympathise with the Blues’ situation.
“There are lots of dedicated rugby fans here, we’ve had international rugby players come from Pentwyn, but grassroots sports is suffering.
“It’s not about being anti-Blues, we’re proud of our team, but we want them back in their home as soon as possible.”
A spokesperson for Better Cardiff, that operates eight leisure centres in the city on behalf of the council, said: “We are faced with an extremely challenging business environment during the pandemic and forced to operate at a reduced capacity and within strict health guidelines.
“As a not for profit organisation, we have to prioritise the resources and facilities we manage. Pentwyn Leisure Centre was not scheduled to re-open in the initial phase of re-opening and will continue to host the Cardiff Blues as an alternative training venue for the time being.”
The Cardiff Blues declined to comment on the issue.
Cardiff Council have now announced a review into the city’s leisure centres provided by Better to “address the impact of Covid-19”.
A report says the pandemic has seen attendances fall by around 50%; 20% of direct-debit memberships cancelled and sales of new memberships fall by 23%, which has had a “significant impact on the financial performance of the contract.”
Coun Carter claims this has worried residents who wonder if some leisure centres, including Pentwyn, could be closed permanently.
Cabinet Member for Culture and Leisure, Cllr Peter Bradbury said: “Prior to the pandemic, the contract with GLL delivered £14m of social impact value. It had allowed the council to eliminate its £3.5m annual subsidy for leisure, and not just keep all eight facilities open but also provide residents with improved facilities.
“Ultimately this review is about doing what we can to make sure that in the face of unprecedented pressures residents still have access to the high quality leisure services once the pandemic is over.”
