Struggling local leisure centres with swimming pools are set to receive a multi-million-pound boost tomorrow to help them with rising energy bills and maintenance costs.
As part of the spring budget, the Chancellor of the Exchequer will make £63m available to local authorities in a one-year-fund to help publicly-owned swimming pools cope with the increasing cost pressures.
The fund, which will be managed by Sport England, will focus in particular on making leisure centres more energy efficient.
There are more than 2,000 public leisure centres in England, over 800 of which have pools.
A survey of more than a third of all UK leisure centres and swimming pools published last November found that 40% of council areas were at risk of losing or seeing reduced services at their leisure centres before 31 March 2023.
Sport England chief executive Tim Hollingsworth said: ‘This is a significant and welcome amount of support from the Government that will offer a lifeline to many public leisure centres across England as well as help sustain them into the future.’
Cllr Gerald Vernon-Jackson, chair of the Culture, Tourism and Sport Board at the Local Government Association (LGA), commented: ‘We are pleased the Government has recognised the importance of our public pools to the nation’s health, our communities, and the safety of our children.
‘Councils and pool operators have worked hard to keep them open for as long as possible in the face of rising energy costs but have been warning that without investment we would have seen a large number of closures. This funding will 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.
‘We look forward to working with the Government and Sport England to ensure support reaches all those in need.’
Cllr Hannah Dalton, District Councils’ Network (DCN) spokesperson on health, hardship and housing, welcomed the extra funding but warned it would not be enough.
'Following years in which the pandemic reduced leisure centre use and energy bills have rocketed, this extra support will be insufficient to resolve the crisis faced by our public pools,' she said.
'We look forward to working with the Government to ensure their viability in the longer term.'
