The Deal That Protects All Council Leisure Facilities and Secures £3 million Extra Investment

I have yet to write here about the excellent outcome a short while ago of the tendering process we undertook to help safeguard the future of the wide range of public leisure facilities run by the Council. As is well known, with councils facing extraordinary, unprecedented cuts to their funding, leisure facilities have come under threat of cuts across the country, with many areas nearby and beyond seeing leisure centres, swimming pools and other facilities closed.

Leisure services are often vulnerable to cuts at times of spending reductions due to the fact that they are a discretionary service, and there are obviously lots of things Councils have to do by law (1,294 in case you're wondering!). However, here in Bedford Borough we have a very good range of leisure facilities which compare favourably with those in other areas, and as they are valued highly by residents we have been committed to doing everything we can to save them.

We want to protect people's access to facilities and their opportunities to take part in and enjoy sporting and leisure activities locally. That has involved looking to do things differently to save the facilities, rather than simply cut them. That's why we embarked on this tendering process, which has resulted in a ten-year deal being struck with Fusion Leisure which secures the future of all eight facilities, while saving local taxpayers over £1 million a year. Even better, in addition to ongoing investment in the buildings and equipment, the deal delivers an additional £3 million to upgrade the facilities and improve them for users.

In particular, that £3 million of additional investment includes over £1 million to enhance the Bunyan Centre. This is particularly significant as the Bunyan Centre itself had been under threat after the end of its status as a shared-use facility with the neighbouring school ceased. This was due to the fact that the Bedford Academy had its own sports facilities constructed. This meant the withdrawal of its £438,000 contribution to the running costs of the site which had been built as, and had always operated as, a shared facility. So, to not only save the Bunyan Centre but secure so much extra investment to improve it for users is extremely pleasing.

Through this deal, the Council retains ownership of all of the leisure sites, while we have protected the position of existing users of each site. Indeed, the Council will be agreeing targets for increasing participation via the facilities for local residents. As the Executive Members for Leisure and Culture Cllr Doug McMurdo has said, this is a 'win-win deal' for local taxpayers and current and future users of our leisure facilities.

As a reminder, the full list of leisure facilities protected via this deal are as follows:

Bedford International Athletic Stadium; Bunyan Centre; Mowsbury Golf Course including squash courts; Kempston Outdoor Centre; Blue & White Peris and Robinson, Kempston and Oasis Swimming Pools.