Chancellor Jeremy Hunt has confirmed a multi-million-pound package to support publicly-owned leisure centres with pools.
The £63m fund, which will be managed by Sport England, will focus in particular on making leisure centres more energy efficient against a background of rising energy costs.
‘When times are tough such facilities matter even more. So today I am providing a £63m fund to keep our public leisure centres and halls afloat,’ he said.
Cllr Gerald Vernon-Jackson, chair of the Culture, Tourism and Sport Board at the Local Government Association (LGA), commented that the funding would ‘enable us to keep doors open, and also continue the transformation of our pools to an energy efficient future that offers a lasting legacy for communities.’
However, Cllr Hannah Dalton, District Councils’ Network (DCN) spokesperson on health, hardship and housing, warned this extra support will be ‘insufficient to resolve the crisis faced by our public pools.'
