Sheffield City Council have announced that they will be making £50 million worth of cuts, with £30 million of those affecting many public buildings throughout the city.
Libraries are the worst affected properties, which 14 out of 27 libraries facing closure. However communities can save their local library if their community group is willing to take it over.
Leisure buildings are also affected in the cuts with the announcement that Stocksbridge Leisure Centre will close and also Don Valley Stadium, which we reported earlier in the week.
Stocksbridge Leisure Centre costs the Council around £400,000 in subsidies, which equates to around £3 per person who uses its facilities. Compare this to another leisure centre in the city, Hillsborough, which only costs 50 pence per visitor.
Bridget Ingle, a community activist in a neighbourhood of Sheffield, spoke of the “catastrophic results” that the cuts will have.
She said: “These cuts will have catastrophic results across the city for local services.
“What the government fails to take in account in slapping this further cut on Sheffield is that, like other cities in the north, they bring in substantially less revenue through council tax when compared to the south because the property prices are lower here.”
Is your local library at risk of being closed in Sheffield? Are you a Stocksbridge resident that will have to travel miles to use an alternative leisure centre in the city? Share your stories with us below.
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