Two leisure centres in Gateshead will close down today (Friday).

Gateshead Leisure Centre and Birtley Swimming Centre are both being shut by council bosses, under contentious cuts that have sparked a public outcry since first being unveiled last year.

While the two closures today will mean that communities are losing beloved facilities just as the school summer holidays begin, there are firm plans to have both reopened under new community ownership.

The Gateshead Active group seeking to take the keys to Gateshead Leisure Centre is confident that it can open its doors again before the end of this year.

Meanwhile, the Gateshead and Whickham Swimming Club has teamed up with Birtley Swimming Club to put together proposals to bring their pool back into use – with hopes that they can have it open in April next year.

The closure of the two sites was signed off last month by Gateshead Council’s cabinet. 

Local authority bosses have argued that the council simply cannot afford to keep funding all of the borough’s leisure services, which are expected to run £1.4m over their annual budget, having lost £179m from its annual spending power due to austerity measures since 2010.

But opponents have accused civic centre chiefs of mismanagement that has seen the centres run “into the ground”.

Wendy Arkle, who went to pilates classes at Gateshead Leisure Centre with a group of friends, said that seeing her local facility close was “devastating”.

She added: “Not just for my friends and the Gateshead Leisure Centre community, but for the town as a whole – a town which was renowned for sport and Olympic athletes, whose motto was ‘sport for all’.”

The council has pledged that round-the-clock security measures will be put in place at both centres to avoid them becoming targets for anti-social behaviour while they are shut. 

Temporary hoardings will be erected around both from next Monday and their windows boarded up.

Alice Wiseman, Gateshead’s director of public health, said: “The closures today are heartbreaking; the process has been robust, and we’ve not reached the decision without careful consideration. I recognise the impact this will have on our local communities and completely understand their concerns.

“Across the borough we have residents living in desperate situations, we must prioritise the support that benefits the greatest number of people and those that need it most. I recognise the concerns that our residents have about these closures being across the summer holidays, but we simply do not have the funding available to subsidise the leisure centres any longer.”