Agenda item

As resolved at the Environment Select Committee meeting on 20 March 2024, the Committee are to receive a further update that includes the outcome of the continued public holiday pilot and further enhanced financial information.

Councillor Ian Blair-Pilling, Cabinet Member for Public Health, Communities, Leisure, and Libraries, alongside David Redfern, Director – Leisure, Culture, and Communities, delivered a presentation regarding leisure services.

A series of slides were presented which detailed the income and expenditure for all sites for the year 2023-24, alongside the core membership and swim school membership growth as at January 2025. Latent demand was then raised with Members being shown a table setting out the current membership position for each site, 2015 and 2022 latent demand targets, and membership as a percentage of latent demand, with all figures being correct as at 3 February 2025. It was highlighted that a number of sites were over 100%, with others on a trajectory to surpass the latent demand figure, and officers detailed the impacts on membership growth following investments in developing, upgrading, and improving facilities across the County, such as the recent fitness suite launched in Devizes.

Reference was then made to ‘Moving Communities’, which was explained as a national initiative that provided a real-time view of delivery across programmes, facilities, and places, with benchmarking and filtering functionalities alongside mapping tools to allow for actionable insights on quantifiable data. A table was then presented which detailed the results of a recent survey and showed that Wiltshire was above the average national score on factors such as helpful and friendly staff, cleanliness, and value for money.

The public holiday opening project was then briefly discussed, with officers reminding Members that the project was due to last over a period of 4-5 years and that as working Bank Holidays was not a contractual requirement, each relevant site relied on the goodwill of staff volunteering to work on those dates. It was highlighted that since the trial was launched, the Council had not failed to open a facility across the four areas thanks to those dedicated members of staff.

Finally, it was noted that officers were looking to focus on outreach work in order to improve the overall social benefits of the leisure service and to further understand and address health inequalities in different community areas across the County. 

During the discussion, points included:

• The insourcing of 10 leisure centres since October 2021, with Wiltshire Council directly running all 20 leisure centres across the County was highlighted, and Members discussed the importance of keeping leisure centres financially sustainable alongside the importance of their social value and raising the levels of the health and wellbeing of residents.
• Members commended the different mindset and approach taken to the leisure service over the past 4 years and the ambitions for the future, and it was emphasised that leisure as an industry was connected to a number of different areas within the Council. Therefore, taking ownership of all of the leisure centres allowed for greater flexibility and agility across those linked services.
• It was noted that for those leisure centres that were not achieving a level of income above their expenditure, officers were working with site managers to developing action plans to help support those sites. Furthermore, it was explained that at present there was a higher demand for swim schools than could be supplied, with there being challenges in the recruitment of swimming teachers. As such, officers had developed an in-house Swim Teacher Academy and further updates would be brought to future meetings.
• Outreach work and understanding why residents were or were not using leisure centres was raised and Members were informed that officers were continuing to invest in sites and build new facilities bearing in mind distances to areas of deprivation in each community area. Furthermore, officers were in the process of looking at Playing Pitch Strategies in tandem with built facilities and the installation of Multi-Use Game Areas (MUGAs) to bring leisure infrastructure into the heart of communities and working closely with other partners such as Spurgeons with the Family Hubs located in different leisure centres, Council hubs, and libraries across the County. Members were reassured that although it was difficult to measure the social benefits of the work being undertaken in the service, further updates would be provided to future meetings and that officers were working hard to understand how best to evaluate the service’s social value.
• It was further explained that officers were undertaking a review on built facilities which when combined with the latent demand figures would contribute to understanding further investment opportunities and what scale of investment may be justified.
• Members were reassured that there was a 5-year warranty on all fitness equipment with any technical issues or faults being escalated to leisure centre management who would then contact the suppliers to address any concerns.
• Reference was made to the first slide of the presentation relating to the income and expenditure of all sites, and queries were raised as to energy costs. In response, officers noted that the review on built facilities would provide further data as to full income and costs and it was noted that leisure centre managers were engaging with Council Environment Officers to further understand energy costs and how to work at reducing them. Furthermore, the Council had made the decision to close all saunas approximately 18 months ago due to their high energy costs, but officers were now conducting a trial to reopen one sauna as a test case to determine its impact and to consider the benefit of the offering against its operational costs.
• It was explained that there were other Local Authorities who had insourced their leisure services, but that there were others which were managed by external operators, however it was emphasised that this was dependent on the contracts in place and the financial position of each Local Authority. Despite this, it was highlighted that although officers felt confident in the service being provided in Wiltshire, there was always room for further improvements and lessons to be learnt from other Authorities across the country.
• Finally, officers highlighted the new Trowbridge Leisure Centre project and emphasised that the site was due to be one of the most sustainable in the country, and that it was a priority for the Council to have full ownership of the project to prevent partnership complications, dependencies or unexpected delays.

At the conclusion of the discussion, it was then:

Resolved:

The Committee:

a)    Noted the contents of the update.

b)    Requested that the next Select Committee asks for a further update including financial information, leisure membership, satisfaction levels, bank holiday opening, outreach, and emerging social benefits.