Talks take place over the future of three Hartlepool arts and leisure venues

Hartlepool Borough Council has held preliminary discussions about Hartlepool Town Hall Theatre, Hartlepool Art Gallery and Headland Sports Centre as it begins to study its budget for the 2023-24 financial year in more than a year’s time.

But the council’s leader, Councillor Shane Moore, insists documents – known as “pink papers” – leaked by someone else to the Mail “only leak half of the story” and that he has no intention of overseeing the sale of “family silver”.

It is believed that one option at this moment in time would be for an outside contractor to manage the three facilities on the council’s behalf.

Another would be to reassess how the venues are run internally.

But closing them down is not considered to be an option.

The “pink papers”, which are not available publicly, were discussed towards the end of last year.

They suggest that the “asset transfer” of the three venues would save around £440,000.

But they also outline how “the timescale may not be achievable”.

Cllr Moore, a member of the independent union of councillors, told the Mail: “I am incredibly disappointed that this information has been leaked in this way and it is becoming a regular occurrence that political opponents deliberately only leak half of the story in an attempt to mislead the public and cause unnecessary worry for our workforce.

“At the council meeting on 16th December it was explained why this information cannot be made public at this stage.

"This is because the potential savings proposals for 2023-24 and 2024-25 will need to be subject to detailed public consultation and a final decision as part of the 2023-24 budget process.

"No decisions have been taken regarding the future of the buildings that have been highlighted.

"As part of a wider strategic asset review the council will be considering a range of options for the future uses of these sites, which may include different models of service delivery but not, as I have been clear on many occasions and is shown in the documents they didn’t leak, asset transfers.

"The days of the family silver being sold off ended when Labour were thrown out of office.

“My focus over recent months has been to develop a robust budget for 2023-24, which ensures the council remains financially viable and can continue to provide good services.

"I believe we have achieved these objectives although we have had to make difficult budget decisions.

"I’m not prepared to duck this issue and kick the can down the road as Labour did for years.

"It is all too easy for some people to simply criticise the strategy we have adopted to balance next year’s budget while not coming forward with a single practical solution to address the significant deficit we face.”

The council is facing an anticipated £7million budget deficit over the next three full financial three years.

Efficiencies of £2.6million for 2022-23 were agreed last month.

They include around £32,000 expected to be saved by the axing of nine school crossing patrols across Hartlepool.

Opposition Labour councillors are tabling proposals for an 11th-hour solution while the patrol cuts have also been criticised by the academy trust chairman of three of the primary schools.

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