Much Wenlock Leisure Centre saved from the chopping block by cross party working
Cross party working by Heather Kidd, Dan Thomas and Matthew Green was key to the recent announcement that public access to Much Wenlock leisure centre had been secured for another 10 years. The continued public access to Much Wenlock Leisure Centre was made possible by the new Liberal Democrat administration allocating £311,000 of capital money from a central pot to be used on enhancing the facilities at the Leisure Centre.
Matthew Green said: “This is an excellent example of what can be achieved when politicians from different political parties put politics to one side for the benefit of the residents. Without the cooperation and working together of Heather, Dan and myself, it is difficult to see how the leisure centre could have been saved.”
“Once a way forward was possible, the team from the 3-18 Trust lead by head Ruth Shaw were superb in bringing it into fruition. Huge credit should go to them.
They were ably assisted by Dan Thomas as the Conservative local councillor, James Owen the LibDem Cabinet member for Housing and Leisure, and the direct involvement of Heather Kidd, the LibDem Leader of Shropshire Council.”
“One person who did not take any meaningful part in the process was the Conservative MP for South Shropshire, although you would think otherwise from his social media post on the matter. I know he is still very new to Shropshire, and allowance needs to be made for his inexperience, but this shows he is still a long way from understanding how the communities in Shropshire work best.”
As a result of this announcement, there is no ongoing revenue funding of the Centre by Shropshire Council and £300,000 repayment to the Government that the previous Conservative Administration had made the Council liable for, has now been avoided.
Background Notes
As soon as the local election results became known last May, Matthew Green who was the Liberal Democrat MP for the area in the past, and Dan Thomas, the Conservative Shropshire Councillor for Much Wenlock got talking about how the Leisure Centre could be saved from closure to the public. Matthew Green also had discussions with Heather Kidd who had just become the Leader of Shropshire Council following the Liberal Democrats ousting the Conservatives from control of Shropshire.
Matthew Green and Heather Kidd discussed how CIL money held in a central pot in Shropshire could be used to fund a redevelopment and improvements of the leisure centre to make it more attractive to the public, leading to more users and therefore more viable for the Trust and an operator to run the site.
The previous Conservative administration in Shropshire Council had removed the public subsidy from the leisure Centre meaning it would close to the public in April 2026. This meant Shropshire would pay back the Government approximately £300,000 from the funding received when the new school, swimming pool and leisure facilities were built in time for the Olympics in 2012. Matthew Green and Cllr Dan Thomas working together and the direct involvement of the Leader of Shropshire Council, Heather Kidd, led to the input of £311,000 of CIL money from the central pot. £60,000 of CIL that was already dedicated to Much Wenlock was also added in with the agreement of Much Wenlock Town Council. CIL money is Community Infrastructure money that developers pay to Council when they develop new houses in Shropshire. A small proportion is allocated to the area the houses are built in, and the rest goes to a central pot.
PHOTO: Lib Dems Matthew Green and Heather Kidd with Conservative Dan Thomas