Knutsford Leisure Centre needs to remain open and I will do all I can to stop the Labour-led Cheshire East Council from closing it. 

Hundreds of local residents contacted me in the space of days following the announcement on November 1, horrified the council could even contemplate closing this valuable community asset. 

Whilst Knutsford Leisure Centre is safe for now - following a screeching U-turn by the council just nine days after it proposed closing it - we need to remain vigilant.

Just as Cheshire East’s first proposal came out of the blue, their next proposal no doubt will too - as they intend to come forward with further proposals to make savings within leisure services.

When announcing the original proposal and basis for closure, the council claimed to have looked at usage and health data in each area and concluded usage at the Knutsford centre was low.

Its report said that just 5.2 per cent of all visitors to the council’s leisure centres attend the Knutsford site.

Given the volumes of people who have written to me and also took time to write to the council giving their own accounts of how they use the site, I am very confident in saying those figures are not accurate. 

The figures did not take into account it is a shared site with Knutsford Academy, nor did it include numbers using the facilities from group hires - all of which are users. 

By not including that data it put our leisure centre at a disadvantage from the outset. 

I have made my views on this matter clear to Cheshire East Council. I have also spoken to Knutsford Academy who have explained the impact closing the leisure centre would have on them and the students who use the centre for sports and drama.

And I met with the CEO of Everybody Health and Leisure too, which runs the leisure centres on behalf of the council. 

During that discussion he raised the fact that £500,000 was awarded to Everybody Health and Leisure as part of the government’s £63 million Swimming Pool Support Fund (managed by Sports England) to help keep them open and provide support with additional heating costs.

Why did Knutsford not receive any of that money?

As your MP, I will fight to keep Knutsford Leisure Centre open.