A council is being asked to hand over £150,000 to support leisure services as part of wider plans to cut costs.
LeisureSK, which runs South Kesteven District Council’s leisure centres in Stamford, Grantham and Bourne, has requested ‘temporary cashflow support’ of £150,000.
The money would go towards creating a new business operating structure for leisure services which comes into place on April 1.
Stamford Leisure Pool
Cabinet member for leisure and culture Paul Stokes (Ind), who is also the deputy leader of the council, said: “Under the new arrangement the council would become the ‘principal’ provider of the leisure services with LeisureSK Ltd becoming the council’s ‘agent’.
“This model allows the council to benefit from the most tax efficient arrangements available therefore reducing expenditure.”
He added that the £150,000 of support is a one-off payment to support the transitional arrangements which will be repaid to the council within the financial year.
Bourne Leisure Centre.
Councillors will discuss the plans as part of the budget at the joint overview and scrutiny committee meeting at 10am today (Tuesday, January 14).
This comes one year after the council revealed its cash-strapped leisure centres were at risk of immediate closure as their management company was losing £2,000 a day.
South Kesteven District Council agreed to hand over £150,000 then which went towards paying staff salaries last January alongside funding of £273,000 to satisfy the company’s financial commitments for the final months of last financial year
At the time the council’s cabinet said that urgent independent assessments of LeisureSK’s business plan, profit and loss account, and governance model need to be taken to ensure they are fit for purpose and effective.
The Meres leisure centre in Grantham is already a vaccination centre.
When asked how much LeisureSK is losing a day now, a spokesperson for the council said as it is part way through the financial year, financial information is unavailable as costs and income fluctuate.
Alongside the new model the council will be exploring other options to boost the leisure centres’ income.
Coun Stokes said: “All avenues of revenue are being explored and maximised, including room hires, events, and leisure/memberships.
“In addition, cost saving initiatives, including energy efficiency measures are being introduced which will in turn reduce carbon emissions.”
In October a management fee of £450,000 had been confirmed to be paid to LeisureSK for 2024/25.
At the time a business plan was approved by the LeisureSK Ltd board of directors who were confident that the company could deliver the service within the management fee of £450,000.