New leisure centres operator sought by Melton Council for reduced fee

Everyone Active, which manages Waterfield Leisure Centre and Melton Sports Village, was contracted to pay the council £250,000 a year when it took over the facilities.

The contract runs out next year and councillors have agreed to procure a new operator but at a much reduced annual management fee of £125,000.

A report which went before the latest cabinet meeting stated that a soft marketing exercise had indicated five potential companies interested in taking on the contract from April 1, 2024, although it is not clear at this stage if the current operators will tender for the work.

Income from the leisure centres was severely impacted by them being closed for long periods during the pandemic and their use has not recovered to pre-Covid levels.

The cabinet report says: “Under the previous contract the council received a management fee from the contractor of £250k per annum.

"Whilst support was provided to the contractor during Covid-19 as we transitioned post-pandemic back to fully opened and unrestricted service delivery, it had been assumed that the previous management fee would be paid in full for 2023/24.

“However, given the financial pressures being faced by the leisure industry the council has recognised moving forward there could be a lower management fee and built in £125,000 income into the Medium Term Financial Strategy (MTFS) for 2024/25 onwards.

"This has impacted on the overall deficit of the council and been a contributing factor of why future years remain unbalanced.”

The council will spend £61,000 on employing external leisure and legal experts to help with the procurement process to ensure the best contractor is identified. This will be funded through a combination of underspend in existing budgets and funding from reserves.

Councillor Ronan Browne told the meeting: “This shows we are listening to the public. It’s something we’ve heard on the doorstep and we are actually going to look at trying to ensure we have good leisure services going forward.”

The Waterfield swimming pool has suffered from a number of issues in recent years with showers being cold and changing areas needing a deep clean after complaints from users.