CAMPAIGNERS fighting to keep full public access at the Queen Elizabeth Leisure Centre in Wimborne have won a review of the Dorset Council funding decision.

Lib Dem council leader Nick Ireland promised those who presented a 7,000 signature petition to keep the centre open that the review would not be “rubber-stamp of the previous administration”.

“We will be asking officers to produce a new report, not just a re-hash of the old one” he said.

It will be discussed by the council’s Cabinet when it meets in September.

Apart from school users only organised groups are currently able to hire the centre facilities, putting an end to walk-in users.

Those fighting to keep full public access told Dorset councillors at their Thursday evening meeting that many people were now suffering because of the decision by the previous, Conservative, administration at County Hall to phase out funding.

One told councillors that  many disabled people, who used the pool at the centre, were unable to travel to Blandford or Ringwood where there are similar facilities.

It has also meant an end of the centre being used for GP prescribed exercise and has resulted in classes at other centres in the area now being over-subscribed.

Felicity Frost told the meeting that the council decision had led to disabled users being further disadvantaged and suffering increasing health inequality.

Portfolio holder Cllr John Andrews told the campaigners that the council remained committed to helping the centre increase its use and had put £881,000 into improvements, including a new all-weather pitch.

He said previous research had shown eight other leisure centres within a 10-mile radius and the council had given two years notice to the school trustees in March 2022 that it would be phasing out its funding.

Speaking after the meeting Stuart Paterson said the campaign group was pleased that the issue would be reviewed by the council Cabinet.

“Following two years of threat and finally actual closure, it appears there is now an opportunity for the new Dorset Council and Initio Learning Trust to explore ways in which the centre can again become accessible to the public…  We hope that this proceeds swiftly, so that the pool and other indoor facilities will become available to the community and other groups in the near term. With the community growing and the increase in housing around Wimborne and in neighbouring areas, this is a much-needed facility whose closure has been devastating,” he said.

Pic – Queen Elizabeth Leisure Centre campaigners speaking at Thursday