Three council owned leisure centres – in Whittlesey, March and Wisbech – are “all of an age with significant replacement of ageing equipment and building improvements required to ensure they are fit for the future”. The parlous state of the leisure centres was revealed in a report presented to the Cabinet of Fenland District Council.
Senior councillors used the debate to highlight issues at the centres and in one instance to criticise Freedom Leisure, the company that runs them on the council’s behalf.
Cllr Sam Hoy said a lot of work was required at the Hudson leisure centre in Wisbech and cited flooring in the gym, air conditioning, freezing water in the pool “and the showers are just ridiculous”.
But she said the fundamental problem was that of Freedom Leisure “and the lack of care they are putting into the centre.
“There’s never anyone in to sign you in when you go in, so they’ve got no record of who’s swimming at all,” she said.
“If we were to ever ask them for how many patrons there are they wouldn’t know, and they could quite justifiably say no one’s using it because they’ve got no way of knowing if people are using it.”
Cllr Hoy said her experience was that it was a busy centre but on her visits she found cleanliness to be a major issue.
“The showers have got black mould in all of the tiles and the pool has literally got a layer of scum. I’m not a particularly neat freak so for me to think it’s really bad it is bad and that is just basic hygiene and cleanliness, and they aren’t doing that.
Cllr Alex Miscandlon, portfolio holder for leisure, explaining last week how low emission boilers have been installed at three of leisure centres as part of a £1.6m programme of works and upgrades. ‘The works include unforeseen yet essential repairs to the George Campbell swimming pool in March, and simultaneous improvements, at a cost of £167k,’ he said“I think that they need to be taken to task on it because it’s pointless spending a load of money renovating things that aren’t going to be looked after.”
The council says it recognises that apart from Chatteris leisure centre – now only 13 years old – the others “are of a significant size and ageing”.
Fenland Council says it has spent the past year using electrical, mechanical, and structural engineers to assess the three older centres and a report will be before Cabinet in February evaluating issues and looking at options.
“The council only has so much capacity to assess, procure, order and manage the replacement of equipment,” Phil Hughes, head of service, told Cabinet.
“Delivery capacity is also linked to Freedom’s capability in terms of selected closures where necessary and the staff coordination needed to support these ongoing works.”
The council is talking to Freedom about the impact on customer numbers and reduction in income during building works.
Freedom Leisure won a 15 year contract in 2018 to manage Fenland Council leisure centres. It has since provided numerous promotional events to encourage membership. IMAGE: Freedom LeisurePortfolio holder for leisure is Cllr Alex Miscandlon who pointed out although the cost of maintaining the facilities is significant although “we certainly had some value out of the equipment that’s being replaced”.
Cllr Miscandlon said one issue he wanted to highlight was the swimming pool at the George Campbell centre in March and the problems that arose from an original project to replace the skimmers at the deep end of the pool fitted in around 1984.
Once removed, he said, “it was clear that there was some serious issues with the pipework that sits underground in the underground void left over from when the pool shrunk from a 33 meter to a 25 meter in 1984.
“Our contractors have worked quickly to assess the works required and move towards the replacement of the pipe work from the deep end of the pool all the way to the swimming pool plant room which is some 30 metres away”.
He said whilst the pool is empty other works are being undertaken with completion by February 20 and re-opening five days after that once the pool has been refilled.
Freedom Leisure won a 15 year contract in 2018 to manage Fenland Council leisure centres. It has since provided numerous promotional events to encourage membership. IMAGE: Freedom Leisure“I know it’s disappointing the pool is closed with no notice unfortunately it was an unavoidable case,” he said.
Cllr Jan French said she understood the need for the work now being done at the George Campbell “but I’ve repeatedly had complaints in the past about the state of the showers not working properly”.
Cllr Miscandlon said he and officers had spoken about maintenance issues with Freedom.
“We’ve highlighted issues that they need to look at and hopefully they will take it on board because if they don’t they will be missing a trick,” he said.
“And as for the booking in issue this is being highlighted back to Freedom management that they are negligent in booking people in and out, so it is being dealt with”.
Cllr Chris Boden, council leader, who had earlier told Cabinet he expected Fenland Council to be absorbed by a unitary authority by 2028, spoke of time scales for improvements and the need to put these into the capital programme.
Freedom Leisure won a 15 year contract in 2018 to manage Fenland Council leisure centres. It has since provided numerous promotional events to encourage membership.“It’s abundantly clear that that we will need to ensure that when we hand these over to the new unitary authority they are in a good and updated condition which may include quite a bit of rebuilding which is going to be required in some areas,” he said.
He also said an earlier plan to use proceeds from the sale of a recreation ground in Station Road, Whittlesey, to partially finance improvements at the Manor leisure centre was now unlikely.
He said there were legal restrictions on the recreation ground land and the council would have to go the Charity Commissioners to resolve these.
“It now looks as though that is not really a feasible way of us moving forward as far as financing is concerned as we’ve got more urgency than that,” he said.
“So, it’s going to be very important that in February we do get a report and we’re then able to look at practical ways in which we’re going to be able to finance the capital works which are going to be required at least three of the leisure centres that we’ve got”.
