Adur gyms collapse: Council pledges to replace leisure services after refusing £1million bail-out

Adur District Council has pledged to secure sustainable leisure operators after the company running its centres went into liquidation.
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Adur Community Leisure, a branch of Impulse Leisure, announced its collapse and the loss of more than 150 jobs after failing to secure financial support from the council.

The company, which ran Lancing Manor Leisure Centre, Southwick Leisure Centre and Wadurs Community Pool in Shoreham, had initially asked for more than £1million from the council, before submitting a lower bid, under financial pressure exacerbated by lockdown.

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Council leader Neil Parkin said the revised bid was being considered when the company announced its collapse.

Wadurs Community Pool, Shoreham. Pic: GoogleWadurs Community Pool, Shoreham. Pic: Google
Wadurs Community Pool, Shoreham. Pic: Google

"We are very sorry this has happened and our sympathies go out to those whose jobs are now threatened," he said.

"The council has done everything possible to support Impulse moving forward. But we also have a duty to local taxpayers to ensure that local services are operated efficiently and cannot place a large financial burden on the authority to prop up an external organisation.

"We found ourselves in an impossible situation in that the sums asked of us were far too large with a significant risk that we wouldn’t get it back and that the operators would still fail. This latest news proves we were right to be circumspect.

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"However we will begin the process right now of finding a way to return leisure services to the community."

According to the council, the original financial package requested by Impulse Leisure was more than half of its working reserves.

Adur District Council owns the Lancing, Southwick and Shoreham leisure centres and awarded Impulse Leisure a 30-year contract in 2005 to run the services.

On top of an annual service fee from the council, the company also retained any financial surplus from the centres.

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The group also runs Worthing's Gym Hub and Storrington Leisure Centre, and had previously warned the collapse of Adur Community Leisure could see these other sites follow suit.

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