Long-awaiting new leisure centre shelved due to budget cuts and spiralling inflation

Plans for a long-awaited leisure centre in Salford have been shelved because of anticipated cuts to the city council's budget. City council chiefs have put the £20 million building of Pendleton Leisure Centre on the back burner following Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng's announcement of a potential £18billion of public spending cuts.

Salford is already facing a shortfall of £16m in its 2023/24 budget due to soaring energy costs. Spiralling inflation has also played a part in the 'indefinite suspension' of the leisure centre project which was earmarked for a parcel of land off Churchill Way next to Salford Shopping Precinct.

City mayor Paul Dennett today described the decision as 'heartbreaking'. "It has only been taken in light of the rapidly worsening economic situation for the UK economy and leisure facilities - on top of the council's ongoing budgetary concerns.

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"To fund the Government's £43bn worth of tax breaks for millionaires and billionaires, the new Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng has already committed to a further £18bn of public sector funding cuts in next year's budget. The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) has recently calculated that £60bn savings will be needed to cover the damage caused by Prime Minister Truss and Kwarteng to the British economy, so this number is likely to rise.

"This is on top of the £16m we are looking to take out of the Council's budget next year, primarily caused through rising gas and electricity costs. We are anticipating a bonfire of local authority budgets next year, just at the time when council services are most needed."

The initial plan to build a new centre in Pendleton was first tabled in 2016. At