Agenda item

Freedom Leisure is in receipt of a support package to mitigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the Council’s leisure operating contract.  This report sets out the current situation with recommendations for the period January 2020 to March 2021.

The Cabinet

            RESOLVED

That approval be given to making a bid to the National Leisure Relief Fund towards the operating support costs paid to Freedom Leisure; and

The Cabinet

            RECOMMEND TO FULL COUNCIL

That approval be given for a supplementary estimate for a sum of up to £177,740 (Band D equivalent of £2.86) to support the Council’s leisure operating contract from January to March 2021 (Quarter 4).

The Cabinet Member for Community Wellbeing, Councillor Mrs Yeates, introduced this item and stated that Members were aware that as a Council, Arun had been providing support for the Leisure Operating Contract since 21 March 2020, when Freedom Leisure had been required to close the doors to the leisure centres in response to the pandemic.

On 25 July 2020, the Government relaxed its lockdown restrictions and Freedom Leisure reopened their facilities.  Over the proceeding months, Freedom Leisure had recorded a steady growth in the number of residents who had welcomed a return to activity with this being supported by communications highlighting that processes had been put into place to ensure that the Centres were Covid secure.

The Centres had been required to close again on 5 November 2020, but Councillor Mrs Yeates confirmed that, following her visit to the Littlehampton Wave at precisely 1-minute past midnight on 2 December 2020, that the appetite for residents to use the facilities appeared to be undiminished. 

Councillor Mrs Yeates then invited the Group Head of Community Wellbeing to update Cabinet on the reconciliation of the first two quarters and announcements on Government support.

He was pleased to report that the attendance trend had continued in the months where data was available and even though December was a notoriously quiet month in leisure centres, the footfall so far was better than some had anticipated.  It appeared that people had taken the opportunity to exercise outside of their homes in a warm and safe place and he had witnessed large queues of parents and children waiting to access swimming lessons which was very reassuring.

The Group Head of Community Wellbeing confirmed that since his last report to Cabinet in September 2020, the Government had announced a £100M National Leisure Relief Fund specifically to support local authority leisure facilities.  The Council was waiting to receive the criteria for applications but what was known was that this would require the Council to substantiate the support costs with input from Freedom Leisure.  This had been anticipated and Freedom Leisure had confirmed that it would be happy to assist.  It was explained that this new Fund was in addition to the Income Compensation Scheme which was allowing the Council to claim approximately £570,000 of the £800,000 it had budgeted in lost income from the contract.

Noted in the report was the improvement in both the number of activities available at the centres and the number of people attending.  The second four-week period saw footfall increase by 5,800 people.  Also, since the last report the first and second quarters had been reconciled. Members were referred to Table Three in the report that quarter 1 had been better than forecast by over £5,000 and quarter 2 by over £139,000.  However, Quarter 2 had been affected by the Centres opening later than expected and this would impact on Quarter 3, as would the second lockdown which started on 5 November 2020.

Despite this, it was encouraging to note that in September 2020, Freedom Leisure recorded its first month whereby its income had been greater than expenditure, illustrating the bounce back in customer confidence the Council had hoped to see.

The projected relief required for Quarter 4 was £177,740.  This continued to demonstrate a downward trend for support despite the recent lockdown.  It was anticipated that this sum would be subject to a claim from the National Leisure Support Relief Fund. On a positive note, it was unlikely that the Centres would need to close if Arun moved from Tier 2 to Tier 3, but some activities would need to be modified and classes stopped, however, children’s activities were unlikely to be affected.

Finally, the Group Head of Community Wellbeing stated that he hoped that the Cabinet would be encouraged by news of both of the Government’s support schemes, but also to learn how residents had responded to the Centres opening.  It was also hoped that members felt assured that Freedom Leisure was doing all it could to promote confidence to use the facilities and were working with staff to ensure that the level of relief provided was appropriate and justified.

In response, the Cabinet praised the support shown by the public in continuing to use the facilities which illustrated how important they were in assisting the wellbeing of the community and so it was vital to continue to financially support Freedom Leisure and for the Council to ensure that facilities remained open.

Requests were made to receive attendance figures for the four weeks from the end of September 2020 and whether comparison figures could be provided covering December this year in comparison to December last year as there were Councillors who were interested to see how the public were responding in this unique situation. The Group Head of Community Wellbeing confirmed that he would provide and share these figures outside of the meeting.

            The Cabinet

            RESOLVED

Approval be given to the Council making a bid to the National Leisure Relief Fund towards the operating support costs paid to Freedom Leisure.

The Cabinet

            RECOMMEND TO FULL COUNCIL

Approval be given to a supplementary estimate for a sum of up to £177,740 (Band D equivalent of £2.86) to support the Council’s leisure operating contract from January to March 2021 (Quarter 4).

The Cabinet confirmed its decision as per Decision Notice C/037/14122020, a copy of which is attached to the signed copy of the Minutes.