Issue - meetings

Freedom Leisure is in receipt of a Council support package in response to the Government directive to close the Council’s leisure centres due to the COVID-19 pandemic.  This report sets out the current situation and options to maintain the future viability of the leisure operating contract.

(Prior to the commencement of this item, Councillor Smith redeclared his Pecuniary Interest made at the start of the meeting.  He was then placed in the Waiting Room for the duration of this item and so did not take part in the debate or vote on this item).  

            The Cabinet Member for Wellbeing, Councillor Mrs Yeates, presented a report which provided an update on the current situation and options to maintain the future viability of the leisure operating contract.

Councillor Mrs Yeates reminded Members that a ten-year leisure operating contract was let to Freedom Leisure (FL) in 2016 playing a significant role in the financial prospects of the Council.  This formed a vital component in the health and wellbeing of the District’s community.  In March 2020, the Government required all leisure facilities to close putting tremendous pressure on the leisure sector and Local Government as a whole.  In response to this, the Local Government Association (LGA) lobbied the Treasury to provide support for the sector as it had done for Culture and the Arts, and the outcome of this lobbying and a proposal was awaited to provide financial support to local authorities specifically for leisure.

At the outset of the pandemic, the Chief Executive exercised his delegated power to support the Council’s leisure contract with a package of measures which included deferring the operating fee due to the Council and financing the upkeep of the buildings for three months whilst they were closed.  This had been reported to Cabinet on 29 April 2020.  The Council now needed to agree how it would proceed to operate in the current situation.

Last week the Government announced that indoor leisure facilities and swimming pools could open from 25 July 2020.  Working with FL, Officers had assessed the impact of opening the Centres over both a three and a six-month period.  The assessment considered the measures that would need to be taken to make the buildings Covid-19 secure and it mitigated expenditure and income for a predicted growth in the number of customers over the period.  The assessment indicated a net cost to the Council of £270,000 for a three-month period.  

Based on the last three months (April to June), if the Council was to keep the centres closed, the cost would exceed £136,000.  Councillor Mrs Yeates outlined that in her opinion, to pay such a sum and deny the public access to the health and wellbeing opportunities delivered by FL in the Council’s superb facilities would be difficult to justify.

To put the financial benefit into perspective, last year as a Council a total of £720,800 had been received from the leisure operating contract.   The social and health related value of the contract was immense as demonstrated annually to the Overview Select Committee.   The risk of not supporting the contract now would be that the leisure centres would not open and in the current climate the Council would undoubtably receive less favourable terms in any retender exercise.

Finally, Councillor Mrs Yeates confirmed she  ...  view the full minutes text for item 82