Your local council is considering closing a sports and leisure centre that it runs, in order to save money. Write a letter to the local council. In your letter: - give details of how you and your friends or family use the centre - explain why the sports and leisure centre is important for the local community - describe the possible effects on local people if the centre closes
Sample Response
Dear Sir or Madam, I am writingwriting this letter to express my serious concern about the local council's proposal to closerecent decision by the local council to close the Grapevine Sports and Leisure Centre‘Grapevine Sports and Leisure Centre’ to save moneyfor the lack of funds. DeleteWell, while I understand that the decision has been taken in the best interests of Grapevine's citizensgreater interest of the citizen of Grapevine, I do not believe local residents support the proposalI don’t think they fully endorse the idea because closing the sports and leisure centre would seriously affect residents' physical and mental well-beingdeeply affect the physical and mental well-being of our neighbourhood in the long run. My family, friends and relatives use this sports centrecome to this sports centre regularlyalmost on a regular basis for a range of exercise and social activitiesvarious physical and social activities. We play badminton, we swim there, and we also use this facility to share our thoughts and opinions with other members of the community. Besides, this facility is also used by our children as their playground in the evenings after schoolduring the evening after their school hours. And, ultimately, because of this close bond among the members of our community, our neighbourhood can consider itself a safe neighbourhoodcan consider itself as a safe neighbourhood. Therefore, given the benefits of thisSo, based on these benefits of this sports and leisurerecreation centre, I request you to keep this centre open until at least one suitable alternative is founduntil, at least, some alternatives are found. Yours faithfully, Lara Cunningham
Why this response received Band 7.0
The letter clearly explains how the centre is used and why it supports physical health, social connection and neighbourhood safety, while maintaining a generally appropriate formal tone. The possible effects of closure are stated but only briefly developed, and several informal transitions and awkward collocations reduce refinement. Prioritize a distinct paragraph explaining concrete consequences for local users before making the final request.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Achievement
The purpose and all three bullet points are addressed with relevant detail, though the effects of closure receive less development than the centre's current benefits.
Explain two direct closure consequences, such as the loss of exercise opportunities and reduced community contact, before requesting reconsideration.
Coherence and Cohesion
The argument progresses coherently from concern to personal use, community importance and a request, but paragraphing is absent and some linking is conversational.
Divide the response by bullet point and replace openers such as 'Well,' 'And,' and 'So' with formal transitions.
Lexical Resource
The response uses a sufficiently varied range for community facilities and well-being, with occasional imprecise or repetitive phrasing.
Use more natural expressions such as 'due to insufficient funding,' 'residents,' and 'on a regular basis' only where needed.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
Complex sentences are generally controlled and meaning is clear, although article, number, punctuation and reference errors occur occasionally.
Check forms such as 'the citizens of Grapevine,' remove misplaced commas, and ensure pronouns have unambiguous referents.
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IELTS General Training Writing Task 1
Your local council is considering closing a sports and leisure centre that it runs, in order to save money. Write a letter to the local council. In your letter:
- give details of how you and your friends or family use the centre
- explain why the sports and leisure centre is important for the local community
- describe the possible effects on local people if the centre closes
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.