Worthing Borough Set For Major, But Partly Secret, Leisure Investment

Major investment in leisure facilities is set to be agreed by Worthing Borough Council as it looks to help communities continue to bounce back from COVID — but officials say the exact amount to be spent will stay secret.

According to Worthing Borough Council, South Downs Leisure — a trust that operates facilities in the town on behalf of the Council — has now resumed the majority of activities across its four sites.

The authority said thousands of people a week are now using Worthing Leisure Centre, Davison Leisure Centre and Field Place while a newly-created app allows more than 12,000 subscribers to take part in fitness classes at home.

On Monday (September 7), officials said that, to help South Downs Leisure continue to thrive and support the reopening of the swimming pool at Splashpoint, councillors will be asked to release a six-figure sum of emergency COVID funding to the trust.

A separate report to the Joint Strategic Committee (JSC) also requested the Council to release £340,000 of Section 106 cash (from developers supporting infrastructure) towards creating a new 3G football pitch at Palatine Park.

Staff claimed that the intention was to ensure residents have as much access as possible to regular exercise opportunities, which supports wellbeing while reducing the risks of COVID and other conditions.

Councillor Edward Crouch, who is responsible for digital and environmental services at Worthing Borough Council said:

"Providing good-quality places for people to exercise and take part in activities which support wellbeing has never been more important.

"That's why we are determined to use the resources we have to support, enhance and create a range of facilities for our residents.

"In extremely difficult times, South Downs Leisure have done sterling work to ensure that our leisure centres were ready for action the moment COVID restrictions were lifted.

"This extra funding will allow them to build on that and ensure the high-level of demand for activities is met moving forward.

"The investment in a new 3G football pitch at Palatine Park also underlines our commitment to working with the community and wider partners to create new spaces, where we can."

Reports to be discussed by the JSC outline the difficulties leisure providers across the UK have had due to the pandemic, with many needing financial assistance to stay viable.

The Council has been asked to note that, during lockdown, South Downs Leisure took a "proactive approach" to ensure it could reopen safely while ensuring it would remain operating on a sustainable footing moving forward.

This included investing in new screens to establish more than 200 virtual classes each week, turning the main hall at Worthing Leisure Centre into what officials claimed was one of the south coast's largest gyms and relocating racquet sports to the Davison site.

To support the trust moving forward and cover COVID associated costs, councillors will be asked to agree to release significant funding.

The total amount of investment, which cannot be released publicly for commercial reasons, will come from the Government's COVID-19 Emergency Funding.

The same meeting is also expected to see leading councillors discuss releasing a contribution towards a new £915,000 3G facility at Palatine Park.

Two-thirds of the funding is coming from a Football Foundation grant.

When complete, the new pitch will be managed by South Downs Leisure with use shared between pre-arranged community hire and Worthing Town FC, which has more than 500 players in mens, womens and youth teams.

According to the borough council, investment in leisure provision is a key part of "And Then…", the authority's short, sharp programme of interventions and assistance to help the communities of Adur and Worthing bounce back from the impact of lockdown.