We’re taking the next step, and we need you with us
Dear Supporter,
When you signed the petition to save Golden Lane Leisure Centre, you helped send a message the City of London Corporation could not ignore. On 5 May, after sustained pressure from this community, the Community and Children’s Services Committee voted to reopen engagement on the centre’s future. That happened because thousands of people, including you, refused to let it go.
Now we take the next step.
This Sunday, we are founding the Golden Lane Leisure Centre User Forum: a constituted, democratic body to represent residents and users in dealings with the Corporation, any future operator, and the governing bodies of the sports played at the centre. The Corporation has said it needs a properly constituted community body to work with. We are building exactly that, and your support is what gives it weight.
Here is why it matters now. The Corporation’s own architects’ summary shows that its preferred design removes just one thing: the community sports hall, the only space in the Square Mile for badminton, table tennis, short mat bowls and the Young at Heart sessions. It does so within the same floor space, on the option the architects themselves rate as more damaging to this listed building, to turn a forecast “deficit” into a “surplus.” On 5 May the Executive Director admitted the financial comparison used to justify this was not like-for-like. The final decision is on 30 June. We have one month.
Two things we are asking of you today:
1. Sign up as a founding member of the User Forum. It is free and takes 30 seconds. Every member strengthens our mandate when we sit down with the Corporation.
https://forms.gle/NdEQH4bjmAV8NA4U6
2. Come to the founding meeting. Sunday 31 May, 6pm to 9pm Golden Lane Community Centre, Fann Street, EC1Y 0SH. Bring a neighbour. The more of us in the room, the stronger we are.
You have already shown you care about this. This is the moment to turn that into a seat at the table.
The pool. The badminton. The table tennis. The Young at Heart. The swimmers. The SEND families. The workers who used it at lunchtime. One leisure centre, for the whole City. One month to get this right.
Thank you for standing with us.
Rajesh Thind
Save Golden Lane Leisure Centre Campaign
savegoldenlane@pm.me | @savegoldenlane
Crowdfunder: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/savegoldenlane