Horsham district’s leisure centre operator asking for large bailout to reopen facilities

Places Leisure runs Horsham’s Pavilions in the Park, Broadbridge Heath’s The Bridge, Billingshurst Leisure Centre and Steyning Leisure Centre on behalf of Horsham District Council.

These facilities have been shut since late March.

While the government allowed indoor facilities to reopen at the weekend, the four leisure centres across the district remain closed.

Places Leisure has requested significant financial assistance from HDC of around £1million during the period of closure and a sum in excess of this from reopening until numbers return to expected pre-Covid-19 contract levels, according to council papers.

The council has employed a specialist leisure consultant to help it negotiate with Places Leisure.

Ray Dawe, leader of the council said they wanted the facilities reopened as ‘rapidly as possibly’.

At a meeting last Thursday, he added: “We believe it’s absolutely essential get our leisure centres open.”

Jonathan Chowen, cabinet member for leisure and culture, discussed the long-term impact of Covid-19 on council-owned facilities.

He said: “We may have to face up to the fact that despite having a sound contract that has delivered the council an income in the past, it could be the case that we can’t afford to run leisure centres in the future.”

He added: “It’s hard to see how many of our fabulous facilities can operate in the current climate and to know whether they will ever return to their former levels of use. This is particularly true of the leisure centres.”

Although the Capitol Theatre has reopened with social distancing measures in place, Horsham Museum remains closed. However an improved digital museum offering has been developed with a new website launching soon.

The council is facing a massive shortfall in funding due to a huge increased in costs coupled with lost revenue, despite some extra cash from central Government.

Mr Dawe described how officers are compiling efficiency options and these will be brought back to councillors in the autumn.

But he went on to say that with so much unknown they did not believe an ‘instant knee-jerk reaction is needed to this financial difficulty we are in’.

Reserves would be used to ‘smooth out some of the devastating impact’, however ‘some hard decisions will need to be made’.

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