HAVING returned from holiday and read the story concerning the proposed closing down of the Shadsworth Leisure Centre in 2016 (LT, September 28), it did take me back to 2010 and to the council meeting when many hundreds of people from the Shadsworth area descended on Blackburn Town Hall to protest against the Tory/Lib Dem proposals to close the Shadsworth centre down.

Many people could not get into the council chamber and had to stand outside the town hall making lots of noise.

The decision to close the centre was not taken lightly either by the Conservatives or the Lib Dems, as well as Labour. We were well aware of future cuts that would be coming in the years that followed.

The main reasons why we wanted to close this centre down was purely economics, the high running costs, but also the fact that a new boiler was needed at a cost of some £100k.

It was felt that keeping this centre open would take much-needed resources such as care for the elderly and transport. The leisure centre did not close and has been kept open now for a further five years at the cost of other services that have had to stand the costs of keeping this centre open, which now proves that the decision to close Shadsworth was the right one in 2010 and still is today.

Ex-borough councillor Roy Davies (via email)