Campaigners call on council to reconsider Gainsborough indoor bowls hall closure

Campaigners protesting against the decision to close their indoor bowls hall.

Campaigners hoping to save Gainsborough Indoor Bowls Centre from closure have called on West Lindsey District Council to reconsider its decision.

Councillors voted down a 1,900 signature petition to save the bowling hall at West Lindsey Leisure Centre last month.

The authority plans to turn the centre into a health and wellbeing hub as part of a £1.4 million revamp.

Around 30 of the club’s indoor bowls players protested outside West Lindsey’s council building on Tuesday ahead of a meeting of the authority’s prosperous communities committee.

One of the demonstrators, Roy Clegg, committee member of the club, said the council should look again at its decision.

“The council has done this without any prior dialogue or justification,” he said. “We’ve tried to hold discussions with them all to no avail.

“The council are being misled by information that is being provided to them.”

Campaigners added that the closure would mean less participation because members would have to travel to Lincoln and Scunthorpe.

But the district council said that the hall is only used by the bowl club during the winter months. They also said talks were ongoing to find a suitable nearby alternative venue.

But Councillor Trevor Young, leader of the opposition on the council, said there were other options the authority could look at.

He said: “We feel that there are other options, in West Lindsey we are lucky to have a fantastic purpose-built bowls facility.

“We are going to do all that we can to retain that current provision.”

Councillor Sheila Bibb, prosperous communities committee chair, said that the council was working with users to ensure other bowls provision is provided.