Council scraps £1 sale of Lightwaves Leisure and Community Centre to charity
Wakefield Council has scrapped plans to transfer ownership of a former public swimming pool and leisure centre to a community trust.
In March this year, senior Labour councillors agreed to proposals to dispose of Lightwaves Leisure and Community Centre for a nominal price of £1 under a community asset transfer (CAT).
The decision was then placed under review after Reform UK took control of the local authority in May.
The council’s deputy leader John Thomas told a full council meeting on Wednesday (October 14) that the deal would no longer be going ahead.
The centre, on Lower York Street, opened in 1982 but ceased operating as a council-run asset in 2011 after it was deemed to have “run its course” following the re-building of the city’s main leisure facility on Sun Lane.
In 2013, Lightwaves Community Trust (LCT) was granted a 25-year peppercorn lease on the building, which now hosts more than 30 community, religious, education and social groups.
Coun Thomas, who holds the cabinet portfolio for property and resources, publicly revealed the policy change after being asked for an update on the building’s future.
He said: “That was subject, under the previous administration, to a community asset transfer for a pound – that is not happening.”
Coun Thomas said other CATs, including one planned for the Five Towns Resource Centre in Castleford, had also been cancelled.
The deputy leader said the Castleford facility would instead be leased to Heart of Yorkshire Education Group “rather than giving it away for a quid, like everything else the Labour administration did.”
Referring to the Lightwaves decision, Yubi Ayub, Labour councillor for Wakefield East ward, said: “I think it is really sad that you have just made that public statement without talking to the charity that you are referring to.
“At the last full council meeting you made a commitment for a review, and then you have also committed to talking to that charity at all levels.
“I think to publicly make that announcement is totally disrespectful, puts that charity at risk, and all the years of hard work that has gone into that charity to make it sustainable.
“I’m just lost for words. I’m disgusted at the way that has been handled and presented to the general public without telling the trustees or the people that use that building on a day-to-day basis.”
Coun Thomas replied: “The way that that has come out is perfectly reasonable, perfectly acceptable.
“That doesn’t affect what’s currently happening to the charity that is in there.
“It’s just that we are not selling it for a quid, like your administration has done with so many properties across the last couple of years. It’s just ridiculous.”
Coun Ayub then said: “It feels as though you are targeting our centre. That was even pre-election, and now [post] election. I think that’s what’s wrong.”
Coun Thomas then said: “There’s not just Lightwaves. There’s also the Five Towns Centre, there were two other properties that came up for disposal that were subject to proposed asset transfers and I’ve said no to them as well. So it’s not just targeted at Lightwaves.”
Proposals previously submitted by LCT included re-purposing the venue for padel tennis, cinema, gaming and sporting events.
A report published earlier this year said the trust could obtain grants worth more than £750,000 if a deal was struck.
The document said: “A transfer of the freehold is intended to free up and empower the trust to raise the necessary funding to enable the Lightwaves Centre to carry out important refurbishment works that will help realise its ambitions and growth.
“The trust’s operation of the Lightwaves Centre is seen as a success story, with many users and a wide range of activities taking place.”
According to the report, the property had an estimated market value of £210,000 but required a significant structural upgrade.