Plymouth Life Centre’s climbing wall will stay open after Plymouth City Council and Plymouth Active Leisure dropped plans to replace it with a soft play offer, but residents have been warned the facility now needs stronger use to remain financially viable.
The change was confirmed on 2 June 2026 after hundreds of people responded to a consultation and raised concerns about losing Plymouth Active Climbing. The council said the scale of public feeling was clear enough for the proposal to be halted.
Closure plan dropped after public response
The earlier proposal would have changed the climbing wall at Plymouth Life Centre into a soft play space for children and families. That plan will no longer go ahead.
Plymouth City Council and Plymouth Active Leisure said they will instead work on alternative plans to support the climbing facility and improve the wider leisure offer. The update means the climbing wall has avoided immediate closure, but not the financial pressure behind the original proposal.
Councillor Kate Taylor, Cabinet Member for Finance and Sport, said residents had been heard “loud and clear” after hundreds took part in the consultation. She said Plymouth Active Leisure would not move forward with the proposals in light of the feedback.
Hundreds objected to losing Plymouth Active Climbing
The response from residents became the turning point in the decision. People who use the wall, families, sports groups and others concerned about local leisure provision objected to the potential loss of the climbing facility.
The council said it now plans to speak with regional and national climbing organisations about possible help to improve the climbing experience at the Life Centre. That could become a key part of the next phase, as the wall needs both community backing and a stronger operating model.
For local climbers, the decision preserves a specialist sporting facility inside one of Plymouth’s major leisure sites. For the council and Plymouth Active Leisure, it keeps the focus on whether the facility can attract enough regular use to justify its place in the building.
The wall is losing about £100,000 a year
The council’s warning was blunt: keeping the wall open is not the same as solving its finances.
According to the figures released with the decision, Plymouth Active Climbing has had 208 regular members over the past 12 months. Around 500 additional users registered on an ad hoc or one-off basis during the same period.
Those numbers have not been enough to cover operating costs. The climbing wall currently loses around £100,000 a year, and the gap between income and costs is said to be increasing annually.
Kate Taylor said the wider goal remains the financial viability of Plymouth Active Leisure, which runs facilities including Plymouth Life Centre, Mount Wise Swimming Pools, Tinside Lido and Plympton Gym. She urged people in Plymouth to “vote with their feet” if they want the facilities to stay available long term.
Wider leisure investment is continuing
Plymouth Active Leisure said it remains committed to improving facilities across the city despite difficult operating conditions.
Since 2022, the organisation has delivered new spaces at Tinside, opened the HY-NRG studio, added the new gym at Plymouth Life Centre and carried out a further upgrade at Plympton Gym, which is due to complete this week.
It has also invested in digital and customer services, with more improvements planned over the next 12 months. The council said usage across facilities continues to grow year on year, with programmes expanding around leisure, health, wellbeing and sport.
In the past year, those programmes are said to have generated more than £9.5 million in social value. Plymouth Active’s strategic plan was endorsed by Plymouth City Council in February 2026.
Next test is whether users return in numbers
The next verifiable milestone will be the alternative plan for Plymouth Active Climbing, including any discussions with climbing organisations and any changes designed to improve the service.
Until then, the position is clear: the Plymouth Life Centre climbing wall has been saved from the soft play proposal, but its future now depends on whether enough local people use it regularly to reduce the annual loss.
Source: Plymouth City Council
Source check Source trail
This article is based on Plymouth City Council’s 2 June 2026 update and separates the confirmed decision from the remaining financial risk.
- Confirmed that the soft play proposal is no longer progressing.
- Checked the stated usage figures of 208 regular members and around 500 additional users.
- Checked the council’s stated annual loss of around £100,000 for the climbing wall.
- Confirmed the quoted role of Councillor Kate Taylor as Cabinet Member for Finance and Spor...
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- Plymouth City Council
- Scope
- Plymouth
- Updated
- 2026-06-03 21:42
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