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Some leisure centres and libraries may never reopen due to councils' £10bn funding ‘black hole,’ says Labour

A £10 BILLION pound shortfall in council finances caused by the coronavirus crisis could mean that some libraries and leisure centres never reopen after the pandemic, Labour warned last night. 

The shortfall would force local authorities to cut spending on such services since protected services such as social care for children and adults have to be maintained.

Unless the government stops backtracking on its promise to support councils with more funding after the pandemic, leisure services will be lost, Labour said.

Swim England, the national governing body for swimming, fears that as many as 500 of England’s 5,000 pools will never reopen. 

In Leeds, the city council has warned that all of its libraries, museums and galleries could go, so deep is the hole in its finances.

A number of councils have already signalled that they may have to issue section 114 notices, effectively declaring bankruptcy. 

This would trigger immediate in-year spending cuts in order to comply with legal duties to run balanced budgets.

The Local Government Association has estimated that the financial pressure of meeting the costs of fighting Covid-19, including lost income from council tax and other revenues, totals £10-13 billion.

So far, the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government has allocated just £3.7bn.

This goes against Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s pledge to level up “left-behind” areas of the country, Labour said.

Shadow communities and local government secretary Steve Reed said: “Ministers are threatening to go back on their word, leaving councils on the brink of bankruptcy — and that could spell the end for both small businesses and the high street, which has taken a battering from the economic effects of Covid-19.”

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