Stockport Sports Village (Woodley) is a large, publicly accessible leisure facility serving over 3,000 members, with no other gym of comparable size, capacity, or accessibility in the surrounding area. The site was re-opened to the public in 2012 following an £8 million redevelopment, supported by public and community funding, including National Lottery–backed sport and health programmes, and was intended to be a long-term community asset focused on public health, inclusion, grassroots sport, and community wellbeing.

There are growing community concerns and rumours about a potential sale or change of control involving Stockport County Football Club, which could result in the gym and wider facilities being closed to the general public or significantly restricted. While partnerships and shared use are not the issue, public leisure facilities and grassroots sports provision should not be quietly removed from public access, particularly when they were created and sustained for community benefit.

The site is owned by Stockport Council, yet residents have received no clear, open explanation of how any proposed deal has been put together, what safeguards exist to protect public access, or how the community benefits from losing one of its largest leisure and grassroots sports facilities. This includes the likely displacement of grassroots football, with teams such as Stockport Metro potentially being moved on to accommodate alternative use.

If the Council is set to receive millions of pounds from the sale of a public asset, the community is entitled to ask fundamental questions:

• What is the true value of the deal? 
• Where will the money go?
• How will it be reinvested to benefit Stockport residents?
• How does any financial receipt replace the long-term health, social, and sporting value being lost?

Without transparent figures and clear commitments, the public cannot be confident this represents best value for Stockport rather than a short-term financial decision.

A football club rooted in its community should be helping to expand access to sport, fitness, and wellbeing, not benefiting from decisions that reduce it. Gyms and sports facilities are essential not only for physical health, but for mental wellbeing, routine, and social connection, particularly for older and more vulnerable residents.

Many members rely on Stockport Sports Village as their main or only form of regular exercise and social contact, and have said they would not move to another gym if public access were lost. Closure or restriction would not simply inconvenience people; it would reduce physical activity, increase isolation, and worsen health outcomes, while also damaging grassroots sport pathways.

This petition calls for full transparency, published figures, and open public consultation from Stockport Council and Stockport County Football Club, alongside binding guarantees that Stockport Sports Village will remain open and accessible to the public. Decisions affecting public facilities, grassroots sport, and millions of pounds of public value must not be made behind closed doors — because once a community sports facility is lost, it is almost never replaced.