Consultancy plan to resolve replacement strategy for ageing Atherstone Leisure Centre has 'no added value'

Outside consultants costing Atherstone council taxpayers £53,000 to advise on the future direction of leisure may not be value for money, councillors have been warned.

The decision to bring in an external expert to help identify the best direction for facilities now Atherstone's ageing attraction is skirting with "infrastructure failure" has been challenged by opposition members on North Warwickshire Borough Council.

Labour Councillor Jacky Chambers claimed the move appeared to be "just repeating work already done" as a previous consultancy had cost around £70,000.

She asked the council's Community and Environment Board: "What is the added value of spending on this piece of work?

"Even with this consultant, my fear is we won't have anything concrete in terms of a finished model or a proposal."

Labour colleague, Councillor Jodie Gosling added: "Potentially, it is too little too late. Does this go far enough to start the process off?

"We don't seem to have a plan. We need a plan.

"This doesn't go far enough and we could end up without a wet facility any day now."

The ruling Tories have pressed the button on engaging consultants at a cost of £53,000 with a view to undertaking a Strategic Outcomes Planning Model exercise looking for the most appropriate long-term, sustainable portfolio of leisure facilities to serve the residents of North Warwickshire.

A report to the Community and Environment Board indicated the proposed work programme would be comprehensive, but the related timetable relatively compact. An initial draft is scheduled for August with a final report completed by the following month.

The committee report states: "This is a reflection of the need to conclude this process in a timely manner, in view of the age and condition of the facilities in Atherstone – and the determination to address corporate priorities and the needs of the local community."

Atherstone Leisure Complex is experiencing "numerous" disruptions to service and a new centre should be built on an alternative site, all the local authority's members have been asked to consider.

The local authority has taken to social media to assure worried users of using the town facility that it is "open and it's business as usual" in the light of recent closures.

The 'outside-inside' collaboration between council and consultant will be asked to work out the financial ramifications in prioritising investment into additional swimming pool provision as well as health and fitness facilities, and reviewing the overall future leisure facility portfolio.

This would include moving the town's leisure complex to a new site and ultimately seeing the closure of the 60-year-old Atherstone Memorial Hall as the two currently run in tandem for swimming and fitness facilities.

A report to the board says the borough council-owned Atherstone LC – built in 1975 with a Millennium makeover finishing in 2001 – is basically past its sell-by-date and "beyond being capable of accommodating any form of extensive refurbishment and so any form of infrastructure failure would be seen as its responsibility".

The report adds: "The potential for such a failure exists due to the age and identified condition of the building and its associated plant.

"There is, therefore, a need for early and clearly informed decisions to be made."

Board chairman Margaret Bell admitted: "Atherstone Leisure Centre has reached a point of unmaintaining now."

She told the committee: "What has been done so far doesn't get us to where we want to be.

"We need to reach the people who are not taking part at the moment. What do they want? Why are they not using it? Questions need answering."

Leisure and community development director Simon Powell said Atherstone and Polesworth centres had identified problems which were in need of being resolved.

"At the moment we don't how we do it," adding it is necessary to look at the model of operation, capital and revenue.

"This piece of work will be of added value. It will make decisions about the right way forward," he added.

Councillor Bell concluded: "We are absolutely committed here. It is wrong to build something without justification."

Still on leisure, Councillor Barry Lees asked why entry prices to the facilities were not reduced for longer periods. "When you drop prices, you get more bodies in," he said.

A report to the board suggested the borough council was struggling to meet some of its targets for operational and financial performance of the leisure facilities.

The three-year North Warwickshire Leisure Facilities Service Improvement Plan was aiming to generate additional sales and income across the leisure spectrum but, for example, increasing the monthly direct debit members is unlikely to reach its average target of 725.

Targets were raised for annual visits to each facility in the borough from 131,810 to 134,000. Now in the final quarter of the financial year, the average is currently running at 102,132 and even with the peak figures to come, the report notes it will "not reach the target set".