Estimated £2.5m To Keep Mid Sussex Leisure Centres Open

Wednesday, 19 August 2020 23:26

By Staff Reporter

The Triangle, Burgess Hill (Photo: Simon Carey / Creative Commons)

A financial package to allow Mid Sussex’s three main leisure centres to reopen next month has been unanimously supported by district council leaders.

"Places Leisure" operates facilities at Kings in East Grinstead, The Triangle in Burgess Hill and The Dolphin in Haywards Heath, but these have all been shut since late March.

The government allowed leisure centres to reopen in late July, but Mid Sussex District Council has been locked in ‘tough negotiations’ with Places Leisure over the last few months.

However an agreement has now been reached and the details of this were signed off by cabinet members this afternoon (Wednesday August 19), with all councillors due to vote on the proposals this evening.

This would allow the centres to reopen at the beginning of September.

Andrew MacNaughton, cabinet member for housing and planning, said:

“I do not think we can do anything else. We are lucky we have been able to maintain three leisure centres. To chicken out now would be disastrous for the whole of our communities. I think this is the only way forward.”

This was backed up by deputy leader Judy Llewellyn-Burke, who pointed out that whatever they decided would involve spending more taxpayers’ money.

She added:

“We have to make sure we spend it in the best way possible.”

As well as forgoing the monthly management fee of £150,000, the council is facing a cost of £1.1million for the centres being shut from March to September.

For the next three months the council would instead be paying sums to Places Leisure, with these calculated after looking at total costs and income.

It is hoped as more users return the income will increase, reducing the financial burden on the council.

The agreed mechanism would be reviewed after those three months.

According to officers’ estimates the total cost of all this to the council could be in the region of £2.5million for 2020/21 and would be drawn from general reserves.

Concluding the meeting, council leader Jonathan Ash-Edwards said:

“It’s a very significant sum of money that the taxpayer is going to have to spend to underwrite our leisure centres. Without that level of support these centres would not be able to reopen.

“I think this is a sensible way forward and a flexible deal adjusting to the usage of the leisure centres.

“I think it’s a win-win for all of us as when people come back into the leisure centres the burden to the taxpayer reduces.”