As the deadline for the closure of the Ships and Castles looms, there are fears that the building is being run into the ground with one campaigner vowing to build tunnels to protect the headland if the land is sold.

Campaigner Ben Leach said he has been shocked by the condition of the leisure centre on the Pendennis Headland with broken lockers, broken showers, rusting lifeguard equipment, weeds growing all over the front of the building, filthy walls inside and out, flaking paint and a tired reception area.

"It was clear that the place had simply lost the love and no one was showing it any love," he said in Facebook post.

"As I spent more time there, I came to feel what a magical place it is, both the building and the outside area with its spectacular views and lovely wild(ish) spaces.

"This space must remain for the community and visitors (for everyone), and keeping our leisure centre open will be a big part of achieving that.

"If the decision were ever to be made to close the leisure centre and/or sell the land I will build tree houses and tunnels to protect it."

At a meeting of Falmouth Town Council on Monday, councillors agreed to apply to register Ships and Castles as a community asset, after a motion by Cllr Jude Robinson was passed.

Outlining the motion to councillors Cllr Robinson said she feared the building was being run into the ground by contractors GLL who plan to relinquish control on April 1.

"What I wanted to raise was the concerns that you have all got about Ships and Castles, they are reducing the opening hours not entirely sure why. although a lot of people are having problems with recruitment at the moment and it is obviously a difficult situation with the closure.

The other reason I think they've had unscheduled closures is because they have plant issues. They seem to have regular breakdowns and that begs the question what sort of maintenance routine have they got in place now or are they just kind of slowly walking away? They have very poor communications with the public about what is going on with the changes and the closure.

The concern from many of us is that by the end of March when we are supposed to be handing over to another user, this is going to be so run down into the ground that it is going to be incredibly difficult to actually prosper again."

She added: "It's about time we put that marker down to show really saying to Cornwall Council don't even think about closing this and get away with it."

An extraordinary emergency meeting of Cornwall Council's cabinet is scheduled to take place on Friday March 4 at 10am to discuss the future of all the threatened leisure centres.

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