Sheffield leisure centre to remain closed this weekend as travellers remain in car park

Travellers arrivied at Thorncliffe Leisure Centre for the third time in four months over the weekend and was forced to close yesterday.

Now, the leisure centre have made the ‘unfortunate’ decision to close over the weekend due to the safety of customers and staff.

Thorncliffe posted: “Unfortunately, we have had to make the decision to keep Thorncliffe Health & Leisure Centre closed over the weekend for the safety of our customers and staff.

“We will continue to provide updates on the situation across our website and social media platforms.

“Please note, during this time you can use Graves, Wisewood, Aston, Maltby, Rotherham and Wath Leisure Centres.

“We can only apologise for any inconvenience caused, unfortunately this matter is outside of our control.”

Swimming lessons will also be cancelled with bosses ‘deeply apologising’ for any inconvenience caused.

They added: “We would like to inform all of our customers that we have made the Decision to Cancel All Swimming Lessons over the weekend due to the current situation onsite.

“We deeply apologise for any inconvenience caused and would like to Thank You in advance for continued support during this period.”

It is the third time in four months that travellers have set up camp at the site, which is run by Places for People.

Coun Mark Jones, the council’s cabinet member for environment, streetscene and climate change, said: “In the case of Thorncliffe, we are aware of several complaints from people in the area and the management of the nearby Places for People leisure centre. This is clearly unacceptable and we will be convening a multi-agency approach including South Yorkshire Police to resolve this issue quickly.

“We have also advised Places for People of the steps it can take to avoid this happening again. We understand the concerns of people in the area and are taking this very seriously indeed.

“We will always work with those who respect our city where ever possible.”