Bowls chief warns council off scrapping Leeds bowling greens

It follows criticism from opposition politicians, other bowls players and members of the public about council plans, currently out for consultation, to scrap 31 of the city’s 62 bowling greens. The council suggests £83,000 a year could be saved from the closures, which would go some way towards plugging an estimated £118m black hole in the council’s finances for next year.

Margaret Butterworth is secretary of Meanwood Park Bowls Club and has been involved with the sport for more than 40 years. She believes everything possible should be done to make sure the greens remain open.

“I think it’s terrible,” she said. “I can see they want to save money, but it covers a lot. A lot of bowlers do not drive a car, so it will be more difficult if they don’t have a local club. For the over-60s, it’s a very sociable game and it gets such a lot of people out mixing and exercising.

“It feels like they are picking on an easy group – they are not taking away football pitches but they are picking on the older people. For a lot of people, especially vets (over 60s), it’s often the only time they go out.”

A document describing the proposals added that 31 sites had only 30 members or fewer, and that the council was spending more than £200,000-a-year subsidising bowling greens.

But Margaret, 81, said Leeds had a busy league schedule and that the closure of so many greens could compromise their ability to fulfil fixtures.

“There are a lot of leagues in bowling around here, so if they take out 50 per cent of the greens, it means some of the bowling leagues could not start again next year,” she said.

“We have 40 to 50 members and it is a thriving club. We age from a couple of players who are over 90, down to 10 to 12-year-olds.

Margaret revealed the Meanwood Park club’s membersship was given the option to fund and run the club themselves, but added it would be impossible as members don’t have the expertise or equipment to look after the greens.

She said: “The bee in my bonnet is that you never seem to see anyone on cycle lanes and it must cost the council millions, but they want to get rid of greens that people use.

“It feels like they have rushed into something that will cause a lot of upset.”

The council’s consultation document states that there are 62 outdoor bowling greens on 48 sites that are managed and maintained by the council’s parks and countryside service.

It added: “There is an overall cost of around £4,000 per green, largely made up of labour costs representing a total cost of £248,000 for all 62 greens. As indicated, the level of income (from members’ fees) in 2019/20 was £43,000 and therefore the net level of subsidy is around £205,000.

“The net saving would be £83,000 each year which takes account of an assumed income reduction if 31 greens were closed along with making due allowance for the capital cost of re-landscaping any greens removed. It would also enable a reduction of 4.5 full-time equivalent gardeners.”

The consultation on bowling greens is set to end on Monday December 14.