Leisure bosses in funding talks with Arun

Arun District Council and service operator Inspire Leisure are due to begin discussions about how much council tax payers will continue to subsidise sports and leisure around the district.

Inspire Leisure has submitted a request for 981,750 for 2012/13 after the present five-year funding deal with the council ends. This is an increase on the annual amount of just under 900,000 which the council has agreed to pay Inspire in the preceeding year.

The suggested rise takes the backing close to the just over 1m which Inspire is due to receive from Arun in the coming year.

The intended increase goes against councillors' hopes that setting up an industrial and provident society to run its leisure services would cut the amount council tax payers have to pay towards them.

The potential clash was revealed to the council's policy development scrutiny committee on Tuesday.

Committee members agreed to note the funding request and the start of negotiations.

Council head of strategy and partnership, economic and cultural development Jacqui Ball said some tough talks laid ahead before any final decision on funding was needed from council members.

A three-strong team of senior council officers had been set up to meet with Inspire Leisure to start those discussions. Included in those talks would be ways in which the trust could raise money away from the council.

She said: 'The reason Inspire Leisure was set up was to give it the opportunity that perhaps does not exist for a local authority to go out and develop business and bring in funding not available to a council, to be entrepeneurial and have some flair.'

That is what council tax payers would expect before any of their payments were handed over to the trust, she stated.

She added: 'It is an ongoing search to make the leisure trust more successful and to improve service provision in the district.'

John Stride, Inspire Leisure's chief executive, said the request for funding was the first it had made since starting work almost two years ago.

'A lot of cost is based around our staff and is to do with the instructors and coaches we employ,' he explained.

Inspire Leisure had attracted between 30,000-40,000 of sponsorship for particular projects.

Talks were also being held with West Sussex County Council and Felpham Community College about how the Arun Leisure Centre, which they jointly own, could be improved.

He said: 'We want to identify how much flexibility and capacity there is on that particular site. It's a busy site and the county council would like to see what could be done with the facilities there as well.'

Inspire Leisure had the advantage of being a not-for-profit organisation. Any surplus from fees was spent on improvements. 'The better Inspire Leisure does, the more we can improve services and plough even more money back in,' he added. The committee also backed Inspire Leisure in its complaints about the new VAT rule from Revenue and Customs which has forced it to impose a 1 fee on the steam room and sauna use at its centres.

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