Warwick district leisure centre operators to get up to £1million from council to help stay open

Warwick District Council has agreed to pay more than £1million in subsidies to Everyone Active - the business tasked with running their leisure centres - for the 12 months to the end of March 2021.

But councillors at this week’s executive meeting were told that the figure was capped and might actually be lower if the use of the centres increases.

Cllr Moira-Ann Grainger (Con, Warwick All Saints and Woodloes Park), the portfolio holder for culture and neighbourhood, said the subsidy of up to £1,049,194 did not make pleasant reading.

But she added: “The weekly figures I’m getting on attendance figures gives me some encouragement - it might not be quite as grim as outlined here and that we will not have to subsidise to such a large amount of money.

“In many respects we are doing this because we have to, we ought to. The government does not want us to see operators go under.

“This is literally the operation to keep these facilities open and available for our residents.

"We have had some fantastic feedback about how safe people feel using the facilities which I think is also a reflection on the standard of the operator.

“I realise it is a lot of money and a big area and there could be some very challenging decisions to be made down the line but I am thankful that executive and scrutiny feel it is worthwhile supporting at this stage.”

The item was included in a debate on the latest budget report in the wake of the coronavirus crisis which included a series of recommendations supported by councillors.

These included a reduction in Commonwealth Games funding after certain features such as electric bus services and an access bridge over the River Leam were shelved.

Mike Snow, the district council’s head of finance, said: “Thankfully, compared to many authorities, we are in a strong position in relation to the level of reserves we have and we are able to adjust this year’s budget and bail ourselves out.

"Obviously it’s not necessarily helping us further down the line by using a big chunk of those reserves.”

And there was also a warning from Cllr Richard Hales (Con, Kenilworth Abbey and Arden), the portfolio holder for finance, who added: “We are going to have to make some incredibly tough choices.

“The easiest thing in the world is to cut services or look at savings but it is also about providing a real opportunity for local businesses to move forward out of this as well.

"What we don’t want to do is be in a situation where we cut and cut and cut and where we starve oxygen to entrepreneurs and businesses that employ so many of our community.”