Padiham Leisure Centre to re-open after court orders travellers off the site

A Burnley Council spokesman said: "Padiham Leisure Centre will re-open at 3-30 pm today (Friday) with all activities and classes resuming after travellers left the site earlier.

"A clear-up operation is taking place to restore the area to its proper state.

"We're pleased this aggravating and disruptive situation has been resolved quickly and we can get back to normal operations. I'm sure everyone who uses Padiham Leisure Centre will also be happy to see it re-open.

"The travellers left as the council, on behalf of Burnley Leisure which runs the leisure centre, was in court successfully applying for a possession order to move them off the site.

"The decision to close the leisure centre yesterday (Thursday) was not taken lightly and was a last resort. We have a duty of care to our customers, and to our staff who faced verbal abuse and threats from some of the travellers who were misusing the centre's facilities.

"We apologise again for the inconvenience this has caused but we are very pleased to be able to re-open the leisure centre as quickly as possible."