Rye Pool In Need Of Financial Support

Targeted financial support will be needed for Rye swimming pool to reopen this spring, Rother councillors have heard. 

On Monday (November 28), Rother District Council’s overview and scrutiny committee received a verbal update on the situation facing the swimming pool at Rye Sports Centre, following its closure on November 1 as a result of rising energy bills.

While the closure is set to be reviewed in time for a March reopening, the committee was warned that if energy prices did not fall significantly, then financial support would be needed to make the pool viable.

The warning came from Ivan Horsfall-Turner, CEO of Freedom Leisure — a not-for-profit trust which runs the centre on behalf of the council.

He said the support would ideally come in the form of the government recognising providers like Freedom Leisure as a ‘vulnerable sector’ which need extra help. He called on councillors to join lobbying efforts to make this case.

Even then, he said, Freedom Leisure may need direct revenue support from the council to ensure the pool can reopen. 

He said:

“I recognise all of the challenges, but to open that pool I do think it is going to need some public subsidy. We’re going to have to move to a position of accepting that we’ve got a facility in a relatively small community.

“To be able to deliver that service it needs some subsidy, whether that is subsidy from Rother District Council [or] Rye Town Council it is almost inevitably going to need some subsidy. 

“It certainly will if there is no government support, otherwise there is just no way it will open.” 

Given pressures on local government budgets, direct subsidy is likely to be a difficult ask for the leisure trust, however. In September, Rother District Council had declined to provide additional funding to Freedom Leisure to help with rising energy costs.

Mr Horsfall-Turner warned this would likely not be a sustainable position when it comes time to re-negotiate the Rye Sports Centre contract in 2026, saying any operator would need to make changes to make the facility viable with the way things stand.

He said closing the pool over winter is expected to save around £12,000 per month, but even then Freedom Leisure still expects to lose around £80,000 at Rye Sports Centre in 2022/23.

Freedom Leisure also operates Bexhill Leisure Centre and Bexhill Leisure Pool under a separate contract with RDC, which is set to run out in 2024.

The trust also holds leisure service contracts with 24 other local authorities, including Rother’s neighbours Hastings Borough Council and Wealden District Council. 

Prior to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Freedom Leisure’s overall costs had sat at around £8m per year; even with the energy price cap, its costs are now expected to be in excess of £20m in the coming year. 

In Rother specifically, Freedom Leisure’s utility bill is expected to come to at least £277,000 over the next 12 months, with £92,000 of that figure expected to come from Rye Sports Centre alone. 

In addition, the committee heard how the trust’s income has yet to fully return to pre-covid levels, while other costs were also under pressure from high levels of inflation. 

Mr Horsfall-Turner said the trust was also looking into fitting solar panels on the roof of the sports centre as a way to reduce its energy bills. 

He also said the trust as a whole is taking other measures to reduce its costs, including a restructuring of its head office and a temporary reduction in senior management pay.