Consultants fail to spot flagship leisure centre in £23,000 report

Colliers International, whose world headquarters is in Seattle, USA, was employed by Rotherham Borough Council to assess the state of leisure and retail facilities across the borough.

One of their conclusions was that: “Scope has been identified for a swimming pool and a bowling centre to serve residents living in the south of the borough.”

That would have backed up the case of campaigners in Dinnington, who lost their battle to keep the town's baths open in 2008.

What do you think of leisure facilities in Rotherham. Do the four super-centres meet local needs? Use the "write a comment" buttons to post your views.

Wilf Slack, a retired head teacher who was involved in the campaign, said Dinnington people would welcome the recommendation for a pool in the area.

But Rotherham Council claimed this week that the report's recommendation was an error because Colliers had omitted to include Aston leisure centre in their research.

Others were built at Maltby, Wath and St Ann’s, with councillors saying that the new, multi-million pound sites would cater for the whole borough.

A borough council spokesman said: “Unfortunately, the consultants who carried out the study failed to include Aston Leisure Complex in their conclusions, which then seemed to highlight the need for leisure facilities in the south of the borough.

What Rotherham town centre needs most. Click here.

“Fortunately, with the facility at Aston, this is not the case and the consultants are currently amending the report with the new information, which should show that there is only a modest geographical gap in leisure provision in the south of the borough.

But Mr Slack accused the council of approaching the closure of old pools before opening the four new ones as a "business" rather than looking at the needs of local people.

There had been little improvement in bus services and he added:" In a lot of ways, Dinnington may as well not exist as far as Rotherham Council is concerned.”

A Colliers spokesman said that there were minor alterations which needed to be made to the report but “nothing of substance or any major changes.”

The full, amended report will be posted on the council’s website next week.

Work has started on a new 12m x 8m children’s training pool in Dinnington.

Last week we reported that Colliers had recommended that Rotherham town centre needed a new cinema and more shops.

That drew several comments from our site users and from followers of our Facebook page, Rotherham Tiser. Click the links to join the debate. Rotherham town centre needs a cinema says report. - Have your say.

We also asked you in our online poll what you wanted to see most in the town centre. Here are the results so far. Click here to add your vote.

A cinema. - 37.7%
An M&S store. - 10.3%
More High Street chains. - 41.8%
Wine bars and cafes. - 10.3%