A CASH-STRAPPED council is locked into a contract which requires it to pay hundreds of thousands of pounds to support a bowls club - even if it folds, The Northern Echo can reveal.

Darlington Borough Council is committed to paying more than £25,000 a year in rental fees for the town's indoor bowls club for the next 25 years.

The ongoing 60 year contract requires the struggling authority to pay the money to supermarket giant Morrisons – until 2041.

Under the terms of a “phenomenally long” contract agreed in 1981, the council is liable to pay up to £625,000 as primary lease holders for the bowls club facilities on North Road.

The club subleases the facilities and pays back the council as much as they can afford every year – a contribution that currently stands at around 50 per cent of the lease cost.

However, the club has experienced a sharp decline in membership since the contract was signed - falling from around 3,000 members to just 300.

And if the club was to fold, the council would still be liable for the lease fees until the contract expires - a situation labelled ‘bizarre’ by Darlington MP, Jenny Chapman.

Ms Chapman said eyebrows would be raised at the funds set aside for the club, in light of proposed savage spending cuts of £12.5m.

Figures produced by the council anticipate yearly rental costs until 2019/20 of £25,682 and overheads of £433, a figure mitigated by the bowling club’s current estimated income of £12,000.

A spokeswoman for Darlington Borough Council confirmed the initial lease was established in May 1981 and is set to continue until May 31 2041.

It is not known how much the authority has spent on the club since 1981 but the spokeswoman said the council had worked with its members for years in a bid to cut costs.

Council leader Bill Dixon said the “frustrating” lease had been negotiated in a different time, with the council of the era unaware of what the future held.

Conservative leader Heather Scott said the initial decision had been one that all the political parties were happy to support but admitted that the on-going lease required close scrutiny now.

Cllr Dixon said lawyers had investigated the matter and found it would be costlier to extract the authority from the contract than to “grit teeth and pay”.

“It is frustrating but it was entered into in good faith at a time when the authority could easily afford that and other things we now do not have," he added.

“Everybody at that time thought it was a fair deal but circumstances have changed beyond recognition.

“Unless Morrisons are prepared to release us, we’re stuck – going to court could cost more than gritting our teeth and paying.

“It’s a phenomenally long contract and I have no idea why it’s that long but there’s nothing we can do.

“Looking at what we’ve had to cut, I sympathise with those who question why we’re stuck in this but it’s legally binding.”

MP Jenny Chapman said the situation was strange, adding: “There are benefits to having a bowls club.

“However, eyebrows will be raised at the council being legally obliged to fulfil this commitment when the cuts made elsewhere are so draconian.”

Martin Lynch, director of the indoor bowls club, said the organisation benefited the community and worked tirelessly to raise funds to support themselves.

He added: “Our club keeps its members fit and active and can give the older ones something to live for.

“I know this situation doesn’t look good to others but if we weren’t here, there’d be another 300 people possibly needing extra social care.

“We’re not trying to get out of paying rent, we pay as much as we can afford.”

The TaxPayers’ Alliance said the contract demonstrated the pitfalls of long term deals that can put a burden on future taxpayers.

Campaign manager Harry Davis said: “Whoever was negotiating this amazing deal on behalf of the bowls club was clearly wasting their talents.

“When local services are being withdrawn and necessary savings made, local taxpayers will struggle to make sense of this deal.”

A spokesman for Morrisons confirmed the existence of the contract but did not offer further comment.

NEWS of the bowling club contract comes as charitable organisations across Darlington face the prospect of devastating funding cuts.

AGE UK Darlington will lose almost £19,000 a year in council funding.

Gillian Peel, the charity’s chief executive, said £25,000 a year would secure their information and advice service.

The money would pay for staff to run the service, which recoups millions for the elderly each year.

Ms Peel added: “It would mean £700,000 of additional generated income for our clients.

“It’s amazing that someone signed up to that kind of deal.”

GADD (Gay Advice Darlington and Durham) is facing an uncertain future due to council cuts.

Chief executive Emma Roebuck said: “If we had a guaranteed £25,000 a year, I’d be like a pig in muck.

“It would pay our rent and pay for admin for our organisation.

“Or I could open up a community safe space in an accessible building.

“The voluntary sector finds it hard to secure three to five year contracts, nobody gets core funding on the bowling club’s level.

“The property needs repurposing for the community.”

ROBIN Blair, a stall holder at Darlington’s Victorian covered market, is campaigning against cuts that could see the building sold.

He said a yearly investment of £25,000 could maintain the market.

Mr Blair said: “The bowling club is important to a lot of people but there’re a lot of important things that need to be supported in Darlington at the moment.

“If the council put the same amount of money into the market, it would pay for repairs and refurbishment to secure its future.”

GORDON Pybus, chair of Darlington Association on Disability, said the bowls club’s lengthy contract takes up council money that could go to the needy.

He said: “Somewhere down the line there must have been a reason for it but it is beyond me as to what that reason was.

“I just wish we had such a contract and could get that kind of money.

“It amounts to almost exactly what the council are taking away from us.

“If we had that money, we wouldn’t be affected by these cuts at all.

“Organisations in Darlington could really benefit from this – it might not seem a massive amount of money but charitable organisations could make it go far.”