Forty per cent of council areas are at risk of losing their leisure centres and swimming pools within five months – or seeing services rationalised – due to the sector’s growing energy crisis, industry leaders have warned.
New figures from ukactive project that without government intervention, large numbers of public sector leisure facilities are unlikely to make it through to next spring, with service restrictions and facility closures already growing across the UK.
A new consultation with national public leisure operators asked ukactive members to risk assess the current threat to their facilities.
The findings show:
* 40 per cent of council areas are at risk of losing their leisure centre(s) or seeing reduced services at their leisure centre(s) before March 31, 2023
* Three quarters (74 per cent) of council areas are classified as ‘unsecure’, meaning there is risk of the closure of leisure centres and/or reduced services before March 31, 2024.
Industry leaders are calling for immediate support to avoid significant closures – support that cannot wait until the outcome of the Energy Bill Relief Scheme review from the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, which will not be implemented until April 2023.