Senior figures from local authorities,
leisure operators and Sport England are coming together to show
that community sport programmes do not need to suffer as a result
of pressure on council budgets.
A series of seminars run by Sport England are
showing how strategic solutions to leisure facility provision can
save up to 30% from revenue and capital costs without compromising
services.
Sport England’s Property Director, Charles
Johnston, said: “We believe sport is critical to building the happy
and healthy communities that local councils want to see. So a
response to budget pressures is finding solutions that provide
attractive alternatives and ensure greater efficiency without the
need to cut local sports provision.
“By highlighting some of the great examples of
efficient and innovative work by local authority leisure services
and leisure operators, we hope to help councils make the strategic
decisions that will deliver more sport for less.”
Speakers will include local authority chief
executives and directors as well as senior figures from major
leisure operators.
Among the
case studies will be Elmbridge Borough Council, which is saving
£6 million from its revenue budget over 15 years thanks to its
decision to replace two ageing leisure facilities with a new,
state-of-the-art wet and dry leisure centre. This has led to a huge
increase in the number of local people playing sport at the
facility.
Steve Philpott, the CEO of DC Leisure
which managed the building of the Xcel Centre in Elmbridge, said:
“The five years since the completion of the centre has given us
hard evidence to show that replacing a number of small, ageing
facilities with fewer larger ones providing an up-to-date active
leisure experience can actually save money in the long term as well
as getting the whole community more active.”
The seminars will also see the launch of
‘Affordable 25m Community Pools’, a new Sport England/ASA guide to
low-cost capital and operational solutions for swimming. The
benefits of following this approach include:
- Construction costs of between £2.1 million
and £4 million
- An operating budget that can create a surplus of around £24,000
per year
- A new swimming pool can be opened within 24 months of the
decision to proceed.
This low-cost approach to building swimming
pools will make a fundamental difference to capital investment
decisions when considered as part of a rationalisation
programme.
ENDS
Notes to Editors
Sport England is focused on the delivery of a
mass participation legacy from the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic
Games. We invest National Lottery and Exchequer funding in
organisations and projects that will grow and sustain participation
in grassroots sport and create opportunities for people to excel at
their chosen sport.
If you work at a senior level within the
sector and are interested in attending a seminar, please contact
events@sportengland.org
Seminar details:
1st November - Elmbridge Xcel Leisure
Complex – Elmbridge, Surrey
- Charles Johnston - Director of Property -
Sport England
- Steve Philpott - Chief Executive, DC Leisure
- Robert Moran Chief Executive Elmbridge Borough Council,
- Craig McAteer – Managing Director - Link4Life (Rochdale
Boroughwide Cultural Trust)
- Andrew Holt – Chief Executive Parkwood Leisure
7th November – Heywood
Sports Village- Rochdale
- Charles Johnston - Director of Property -
Sport England
- Craig McAteer – Managing Director - Link4Life (Rochdale
Boroughwide Cultural Trust)
- Mark Widdup – Executive Director – Rochdale Metropolitan
Borough Council
- Steve Philpott - Chief Executive, DC Leisure,
- Andrew Holt – Chief Executive Parkwood Leisure
6th December – Spiceball
Leisure Centre– Banbury, Oxfordshire
- Charles Johnston - Director of Property -
Sport England
- Andrew Holt – Chief Executive Parkwood Leisure
- Sue Smith, Chief Executive Cherwell District Council
- Craig McAteer – Managing Director - Link4Life (Rochdale
Boroughwide Cultural Trust)
- Steve Philpott - Chief Executive, DC Leisure.