“I hope this is a moment of clarity for people who think those in politics do not listen”
Plymouth Life Centre’s climbing wall(Image: Alison Stephenson)
Plymouth City Council’s cabinet member for sport has disputed that Reform UK councillors had anything to do with the decision to put the stoppers on a plan to replace the climbing wall at the Life Centre with a soft play area.
The council’s Labour administration announced on Tuesday morning that proposals put forward by its leisure company Plymouth Active Leisure (PAL) would not be progressing after it received hundreds of concerns about the potential loss of the facility.
But whilst the announcement came shortly after Reform UK Plymouth group leader Cllr Steve Ricketts (Drake) met with PAL for a briefing and demanded a U-turn, Cllr Kate Taylor (Lab, Ham) said the decision had already been taken the day before.
“It was my decision which I made with the PAL leadership on Monday – Reform cannot claim this as their victory,” said the new cabinet member for finance and sport, adding that formal processes had to be gone through before announcing it to the public. “Given the strength of feeling of the people of Plymouth which we saw through the consultation we decided it would be best to withdraw the proposal in its current form. It had nothing to do with the Reform group.”
She said during the consultation she had received representations in email from from leader of the Conservative group Cllr Chris Wood (Eggbuckland) and Independent councillor Terri Beer ( Plympton Erle) along with Labour councillors acting on behalf of their residents and Labour MP for Sutton and Devonport Luke Pollard but nothing from Reform or The Greens.
“Cllr Ricketts requested a briefing so he could understand the issues and that was arranged but by that time the decision had already made,” she said.
She added that despite some people thinking the council was at odds with its leisure company over the climbing wall, that was not true adding “we are a team” and this was “a collective decision”.
She gave a confirmation that the U-turn would not be temporary and that the climbing wall, which is currently losing £100,000 a year, would remain into the future and “certainly whilst I am cabinet member for sport”.
Cllr Taylor said she was not surprised by the huge opposition to the proposal: “People in Plymouth love what they love but people do not always realise the value in something until there are conversations around doing something else.
“We had lots of correspondence, all very well articulated explaining the positive impact the climbing wall has on people and their loved ones and the connections they had made through it.”
Thousands of residents also signed petitions online but there was support too from the wider climbing community and organisations like the British Mountaineering Council who organise the Youth Climbing Series – Plymouth is an important venue on the circuit due to the facility having the tallest walls in Devon.
“I hope this is a moment of clarity for people who think those in politics do not listen,” added Cllr Taylor. “We do listen and when proposals are controversial we are not immune to that. People have a voice and they are being heard.”
The councillor has urged people to come forward with innovative ideas to unlock the potential of the climbing wall, which had only 208 regular members in 12 months alongside 500 ad hoc users.
Everyone was now aware that the operating costs exceeded the income and the debate would begin about making it profitable, she said, but confirmed this would not include raising prices: “The world is our oyster now in the ways we can work with PAL to improve the climbing wall experience.”
A financial plan will be put together with investments in the facility included and “exciting” alternatives to bring in income at the Life Centre.
“I can’t wait to see what’s coming down the track,” she said.
