Draft Indoor Leisure Facilities Strategy to be considered by Cabinet
A draft Indoor Leisure Facilities Strategy 2018 to 2023, which outlines how Shropshire Council intends to continue to encourage and support people’s well-being through physical activity, is to be considered by the council’s Cabinet on Wednesday 21 June 2017.
This new draft, of a strategy originally begun in 2009, has been written following further consultation with residents and the council’s key partners.
It sets out a hierarchy of leisure facility provision to meet the future recreational and sporting needs of Shropshire residents, whilst taking into consideration the financial challenges the council faces.
In order to meet these needs, the strategy has split the county’s leisure facilities into three tiers, based on the location of the facility and the mix of activities it provides.
- Tier 1 – ‘Leisure Hubs’. There are seven of these situated in the county’s larger market towns. They are destination facilities, which provide a wide range of activities and leisure opportunities.
- Tier 2 – ‘Community Leisure Centres’. Four centres offer local facilities within the smaller market towns providing a more limited range of leisure opportunities.
- Tier 3 – ‘Community Leisure Centres’. These are independently managed and operated centres. Six Community Leisure Centres in the smaller market towns are currently supported by Shropshire Council.
The council intends to work alongside partners to continue to invest in and support each facility; however, in different ways.
| Leisure facilities | Financial support | Number of facilities | Facility description |
| Tier 1 Leisure Hubs | Ongoing revenue support, as required | 7 | Shrewsbury Sports Village Quarry Swimming and Fitness Centre Oswestry Leisure Centre Market Drayton Swimming Centre South Shropshire Leisure Centre SpArC Bridgnorth Leisure Centre
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| Tier 2 Community Leisure Centres | Cost neutral to the council by the end of 2022/23 | 4 | Church Stretton Leisure Centre Whitchurch Swimming Centre Whitchurch Sports Centre Cleobury Mortimer Sports Centre |
| Tier 3 Community Leisure Centres | Cost neutral to the council by the end of 2018/19 | 6 | Much Wenlock Leisure Centre Roman Road Sports Centre Idsall Sports Centre Wem Swimming and Lifestyle Centre The Severn Centre Craven Arms Community Centre |
Lezley Picton, Shropshire Council’s Cabinet member for culture and leisure, said:
“This strategy underpins our vision to encourage and support people to be healthier and more active. It lays out our preferences, taking into account the valuable feedback we’ve had from residents and our partners, and of course our financial situation.
“We have no intentions to close any of our leisure centres, but we do need to prioritise how and where our limited resources are spent now and in the future. We think that, by creating a hierarchy of leisure facility provision, we can best provide reasonable access to Shropshire residents, notwithstanding the very rural nature of the county.
“There is lots of work to be done and we will be working closely with interested parties to explore commissioning arrangements, which have the potential to make many of these facilities sustainable and successful in the long term.”
The strategy doesn’t make any recommendations with respect to the location of future swimming provision in Shrewsbury.
