A LAST-ditch attempt to defer the closure of a community leisure and business centre has been blocked amid allegations that councillors had not followed asset management procedures.

Businesses and community groups based in Middlesbrough’s Southlands Centre were told last month that the site would be closed by autumn after a committee agreed it was not viable to keep the building open.

Campaigners had been buoyed ahead of meeting held in Middlesbrough Town Hall yesterday where independent Councillor Jon Rathmell challenged the authority over the “fundamentally flawed and misleading” decision.

However, members of the Overview and Scrutiny Board voted unanimously against deferring plans to shut the centre to ensure the closure would continue as proposed.

Members cast their votes on the grounds that the decision-making process had been upheld by councillors in previous meetings.

The board stressed that the decision did commit the council to engage with the community “in order to ascertain the requirements for a fit-for-purpose community facility that will serve the needs of the area”.

Cllr Rathmell, who represents the Nunthorpe ward, said: “We feel the decision to close the Southlands is wrong and any promise to provide a community facility is utter fantasy and pie in the sky, especially when it has not been costed nor has money been set aside in the annual accounts.”

He added: “The evidence shows that in September 2017, Middlesbrough Council received an unsolicited bid which they were considering.

“The council went so far as to agree to advance talks with the bidder, carry out due diligence on the bidder, which would have resulted in the sale of the freehold of the Southlands.”

Members of the public tutted during the meeting yesterday when James Bromley, Middlesbrough council’s director of finance and governance, stated the bid had not been viable and was not pursued.

The Southlands Centre in east Middlesbrough was built to house start-up businesses, however the site currently runs a 39 per cent occupancy rate – well below the "viable" 75 per cent occupancy rate.

Councillor Nicky Walker, executive member for finance and governance, said: “I can understand people’s attachment to the building. Residents would be upset if Southlands shut, but it’s the businesses that are most upset by the closure.

“Having attended a community meeting I think it was the loss of community use that caused the main concern and I can understand that, however we can’t move forward with a new building or facility until such a time a decision is upheld.”