17/03/2011 - Permalink

Council boldly moves to create local leisure services that are ‘fit for the future’

Related topics: Community / Leisure, culture and heritage

In its constant search for better value-for-money for local council tax payers, Shropshire Council is taking forward a bold new approach to the running of five of its most important community leisure facilities.

A recommendation to seek bids from other leisure service providers to run these facilities was agreed by the council’s Cabinet yesterday (16 March 2011).

This means that the council will now begin the process to advertise these on the open market and, new running arrangements could be in place by as early as April 2012.

This major change is only one part of the council’s wider approach to transforming local public services, which will see businesses, social enterprises, and voluntary and community groups taking over the running of services and facilities in Shropshire’s local communities, over the next few years.

The intention is to bolster the local community by creating new jobs for local people, while reducing the cost for Shropshire’s council tax payers.  The new leisure services contracts are expected to save hundreds of thousands of pounds a year.

By looking for new management arrangements, the council hopes to offer revamped local leisure services which are better tailored to local people’s changing demands and preferences.  Like their customers, more modern leisure facilities will be “fit for the future”, guaranteeing that they will continue to be available for use by local people, despite other funding cuts.

This bold new approach will provide customers with links to national brands and membership schemes, with real benefits for them that they cannot get under the current council run arrangements.

These changes follow an objective, external review of how the council’s leisure services could be redesigned to provide better value-for-money and an improved experience for the local people who use them.

The facilities involved in the proposed competitive tendering process include:

  • Bridgnorth Leisure Centre
  • Market Drayton Swimming Centre
  • Oswestry Leisure Centre
  • Whitchurch Swimming Centre
  • Shrewsbury Sports Village and Indoor Bowls Hall 

Councillor Steve Charmley, Shropshire Council’s Cabinet member for culture and leisure, said: “We are extremely passionate about providing good public services to our residents. 

“This review has offered us a great opportunity to explore how these important leisure facilities can be run differently, to give a better service at a lower cost in the future. 

“I am very keen to see as many of our current cultural and leisure facilities as possible continue to play a part in local people’s lives, by improving their health and well-being.  We cannot ignore the fact that our local communities could benefit more from some of these facilities being provided by somebody other than the council. 

“So maintaining the status quo is clearly not an option, if we are to continue to keep these centres open and flourishing in the future.”