On Friday I was shocked to receive a call from the Labour Leader at West Suffolk Council informing me that he has decided to cancel the planned new leisure facilities, known as the Western Way project.

The project was much more than just a leisure center replacement it was also planned to share space with the NHS, an early learning Center and the County Council archives.

See below for my open letter to Cliff Waterman, the Labour leader of the coalition that runs West Suffolk Council. if you want to enjoy the benefits of a new, enlarged and energy efficient leisure Center email Cllr Waterman on Cliff.waterman@westsuffolk.gov.uk to make your feelings known.

‘Dear Cliff,

Thank you for calling me on Friday, an hour and a half before the embargo on your press release, informing me of your intention to cancel the Western Way project. I don’t want to lecture you on local politics but releasing your intentions to the press before the matter has even been debated at Cabinet or Full Council appears to be riding roughshod over our democratic processes.

As you know, Western Way has been an ambitious, forward looking project designed to really help the residents of Bury St Edmunds and surrounding area. It was fully costed and had been subject to rigorous checks for affordability and functionality. In fact it has been progressing through the process for nearly 7 years and at every stage a cautious and prudent approach has been taken.

We know from needs assessments that the existing leisure centre is too small, in particular for swimming. The population of Bury St Edmunds is getting larger.

At the Local Government Association I was present when you were the speaker praising the Mildenhall Hub and all its merits, yet now you deny the same for Bury St Edmunds. Is this not hypocritical?

At a stroke, you have killed the concept of community hubs in West Suffolk. You are signalling that we are now a backwards looking council with a complete lack of ambition who can’t keep their side of a deal. There must now be real question mark over the early years centre and the archives. Why would any potential partner ever trust us again?

We know the positive impact on both physical and mental health that leisure facilities bring to our residents. Those who cannot afford to pay private leisure centre fees would have benefited the most from the Western Way project. Young people will be particularly affected whilst the existing leisure centre is refurbished.

A refurbishment will require the existing leisure centre to be closed for an extended period of time which will have a substantial impact on the customer base of the leisure centre and Abbeycroft, as the leisure provider. This will result in a cost to the council of circa £1.5m – £2m during the closure period.

Cancelling the project will also lead to the costs incurred on the project to date being abortive, as the majority of the work on Western Way would not be transferable. These costs are in the £millions.

You must also consider the impact, both financially and on our net zero targets, of now not installing the significant renewable energy generation systems on the roof.

You appear to justify cancelling the project in terms of cost. Yet costs will go up because of your decision. A full refurbishment of the existing leisure centre (nov 2022) to budgeted to be a cost of £24.8m. This will increase the revenue budget from the current annual provision of £724,000 to £1,116,000 because borrowing would have to be paid over 20 years rather than 40 years for a new build.

Where will this revenue budget shortfall come from? Which services are you planning to cut?

I fail to understand why you wish to cancel the project. A project that would have provided an improved and enlarged leisure facility, a community hub, county archives and an early years facility at lower running costs all within an existing budget.

I fear your lack of leadership, ambition and confidence will leave you on the wrong side of history on this one. I ask you to reconsider your decision. “