Campaigners are battling to save a bowls club in Reading.
Rivermead Bowling Club members have presented a petition with 378 signatures to Reading Borough Council (RBC) on Tuesday (February 25), calling for the club to be saved.
The council revealed last month the bowls hall at Rivermead leisure centre would not be replaced when the site is rebuilt next door in the next few years.
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Carol Goddard, speaking at Full Council this week on behalf of Rivermead Bowls Club, said: “Many of our players would need to travel over a 30-minute car to any of the venues in Berkshire and the club would not be able to give our membership the number of games they currently enjoy.
“Despite the trend across the country of a reduction in the number of bowlers, Rivermead has been regaining new members. We have consistently kept our loyal members and have increased our membership over the past three years. We provide such an enormous service to a number of members of the community who would not have sports facilities. It attracts all ages and the sport has an under-25 championship. We would like to encourage school children into the sport such as after school clubs as we wish this great sport to grow for generations to come.”
RBC awarded a contract to Greenwich Leisure Ltd (GLL) last month to run leisure facilities in the town, including rebuilding a new leisure centre at Rivermead by summer 2022.
A modern state-of-the-art leisure centre with a new 25m swimming pool is planned to replace the Richfield Avenue site.
Councillor Graeme Hoskin, lead member for Sport, said: “We understand your disappointment that a dedicated bowls hall could not, in the end, be provided with the final plans for the new leisure centre. Whilst we would love to have been able to provide a new bowls hall the process to select a partner was driven by a need to secure affordability for the council tax-payer.”
The council used Sports England modelling to determine the demand for bowls in Reading and found the capacity was greater than demand for the sport.
The only other indoor bowls club facility in Reading is in Whiteknights, 3.8 miles away.
RBC says Whiteknights Indoor Bowling Club has “sufficient capacity to absorb the Rivermead Bowls Club members”.
However, Rivermead members say Whitenights is private and in Wokingham Borough Council (WBC) and RBC should have its own bowls club.
The current bowls club at Rivermead will remain open until at least summer 2022, when the council and GLL expect the new centre to open.
Cllr Hoskin said he is committed to working closely with Rivermead Bowls Club to explore options and proposals and has already enjoyed a productive meeting with the club.
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