Leisure Centre Consultation

In September and October 2021 we consulted on the draft Leisure Resources Strategy and our proposed response to GLLs formal request to stop operating the leisure centres in Falmouth, Launceston, Saltash and Wadebridge and the Hydrotherapy pool at St Austell Leisure Centre.

What was the consultation about?

As Cornwall Council does not have a statutory duty to provide leisure centres, our 2014 Leisure Resources Strategy sets out the ambition to support a network of public leisure centres for both residents and visitors to Cornwall at no cost to the council taxpayer. Due to the pandemic, the challenges we face in achieving this ambition are now greater than anyone could have foreseen, and a review of the strategy is needed to ensure it is fit for purpose in the current situation.

Good leisure provision helps people of all ages stay healthy, active and socially connected. .In Cornwall there is a mix of leisure centres and facilities operated independently by the private or voluntary sector (such as Carn Brea Leisure Centre and Par running track) and leisure centres operated by social enterprise Greenwich Leisure Limited (GLL) through a contract with Cornwall Council.

The pandemic has had a devastating impact on the leisure sector across the country, and Cornwall has been no exception. The loss of income due to the pandemic is having a long term impact on GLLs finances.

GLL have asked Cornwall Council to allow them to stop operating the leisure centres in Wadebridge, Launceston, Saltash and Falmouth, and the hydrotherapy pool within St Austell leisure centre or, alternatively, to subsidise the operation of these facilities.

Supporting residents through Covid 19 has already hit the Council’s finances hard. Our first duty is to balance our books and provide those statutory frontline services we are legally obliged to provide for our residents. We do not have a budget for subsidising GLL operations or for operating any centres directly. If no solution or alternative is found, these facilities may close.

• Read our Summary Consultation Document for an overview of the key proposals
• Our proposals are set out in detail in the Draft Leisure Resources Strategy
• The strategy was informed by an independent strategic review of leisure services undertaken by Strategic Leisure Ltd

The consultation closed at midnight on 31 October 2021.

What's happened since?

We have analysed the results and reported an interim report to the Council's Cabinet meeting in December. The final consultation feedback report has been published now and is used to inform decisions at the Council's Cabinet meeting on 4 March 2022.

At the meeting in December, Cornwall Council's Cabinet confirmed

• GLL will continue to operate Saltash Leisure Centre beyond March 2022.
• The leisure centre in Launceston will continue to be run by GLL until January 2023 when the Council’s lease on that facility ends and the building is handed back to the Coronation Park Trust. Cornwall Council will support the Trust to evaluate longer term options for leisure provision in the town.
• Beyond March 2022 GLL will no longer be required to operate the leisure centres in Wadebridge and Falmouth and the hydrotherapy pool at the centre in St Austell.
• Cornwall Council is working with community groups and organisations to find a financially sustainable way to keep the leisure centres in Wadebridge and Falmouth operating beyond the end of March 2022 and it had started a formal process to invite interested parties to work with us to develop viable and sustainable solutions.

At the meeting on 30 March 2022, Cornwall Council's Cabinet considered a report on the results of this formal process to find viable and sustainable solutions.

• The report recommends that more time and support is offered to organisations that have put forward bids to run Wadebridge Leisure Centre, as there is potential scope to reach an agreement that would keep the leisure centre open and operating.
• However, despite the best efforts of prospective operators, Cornwall Council, and current provider GLL to find a solution that would keep it open, there is no viable bid to operate Ships and Castles leisure centre in Falmouth
• This means that if the Cabinet decide that all avenues to find a workable solution have been exhausted, the Council could be working with GLL to close Ships and Castles leisure centre in Falmouth by March 31, 2022

Since the meeting on 30 March 2022, Cornwall Council has worked with Falmouth Town Council to find solutions for the future of leisure provision in Falmouth. The outcome of these discussions has been an agreement in May 2023 to transfer the freehold for the Pendennis Headland, including the leisure centre to the Town Council for £1. The intention of the Town Council is to maintain the Site’s existing uses and to also enter into a lease with a third party for the former leisure centre, with the intention of re-opening it as a Leisure facility. The Town Council recognises that the re-opening of the leisure centre has financial and operational risks associated with it and therefore has a secondary plan that would see the leisure centre site ‘rewilded’ in the event that its preferred plan to see the building re-opened becomes un-achievable.

The Wadebridge Leisure Centre was handed over to the Friends of Wadebridge Leisure Centre CIC in September 2022 and continues to be in operation.