Chorley leisure centres saved from collapse at £1.1m cost to the council

Ballooning energy and wage bills and a dip in user numbers since the pandemic struck have combined to leave the three facilities teetering on the brink.

A meeting of Chorley Council - at which the cash injection was approved - heard that the authority was committed to the future of the services provided by the centres.

However, cabinet member for early intervention Bev Murray said that it had been “one thing after another” with them in recent years.

The borough’s facilities - All Seasons Leisure Centre, near the town centre; Clayton Green Sports Centre in Clayton-le-Woods; and Brinscall Baths, which is partially closed at the moment, pending a full refurbishment - were brought back into council control at the height of the pandemic.

In September 2020, the town hall aborted plans to transfer the trio from one private operator to another. They are now run through a wholly-owned council subsidiary company, Chorley Leisure Limited.

A report presented to councillors revealed that since the onset of Covid, visitor numbers have shrunk - with membership of the centres standing at just 73 percent of pre-pandemic levels, presently around 3,500 users. However, the number of swimming lessons delivered has increased by four percent over the pandemic period.

The document also noted that it was “highly likely” that there would be insufficient cashflow for the facilities to make it through until the end of the financial year in March 2024 if the extra resources requested by the company were not pumped in by the council. The result, councillors were warned, would be the risk of “insolvency, redundancies and reputational damage”.

Deputy council leader and cabinet member for finance Peter Wilson told the meeting that he was sure all members of the authority “want to continue with the [leisure] provision”.

“This gives us the time to get [a] plan in place as to how we really re-energise and refocus in terms of getting people using the leisure centres [and] what our plan is to raise income.

“The climate still remains exceptionally challenging for leisure centres. We can see that [in] Chorley [and]...everywhere else in the country,” Cllr Wilson added.

In anticipation of that challenge, the council had already earmarked £680,000 when it set its budget in February in order to support its leisure centres. The total £1.122m now being provided will be met by combining that previously-agreed pot with funds from the council’s inflationary reserve which was created for just such situations.

Income levels for the facilities have risen from £1.743m in 2022/23 to a forecast for 2023/24 of £1.867m - but that is less than the £331,000 three-year income budgets set when Chorley leisure Limited was formed. The council had expected to be able to stop providing any subsidy at all as of this year.

However, the company needs £626,000 just to meet the forecast increase in the cost of utilities. A yet-to-be-decided national pay award is also expected to cost a recurring £100,000 per year more than budgeted for.

Clr Murray said that the situation facing Chorley’s l;eisure centres had not been helped by how the previous private operator, Active Nation, had left - taking the software and membership details with them and cancelling direct debits

“[They] didn't communicate with the membership - so that’s quite challenging to get up and running [again],” she explained.

Chorley Leisure Limited submitted a bid to Sport England’s Swimming Pool Support Fund last month. If successful, then the level of financial assistance required from the council may be reduced.