Campaign in New Year to get people back to leisure centres

Councillors discussed the Freedom Leisure annual report for 2019/20, at a Economy, Residents, Communities and governance scrutiny committee meeting on Monday, December 14

The report showed that performance and finances had dipped in the last quarter of 2019/20, when Covid-19 struck the UK.

After the March lockdown, the leisure centres didn’t fully re-open until August.

The process of re-opening the 14 leisure centres with 12 swimming pools continued right through to November.

Freedom Leisure Area Manager for Powys, Gwyn Owen, told the committee that customer and member confidence had been a, “huge hurdle,” in reopening the facilities.

Councillor Gareth Jones, said: “We can all agree it’s not been an easy time trying to balance the books, and Covid has made it even worse.”

Councillor Jones pointed out that exercising at leisure centres is a big part of people’s lives, important to both physical and mental well-being, and had even been discussed at the November council meeting.

He asked: “How are you engaging with the public to show you are open again and actively there for them to use the facilities?

“Have you done anything to boost uptake of the service?”

Mr Owen, said: “We’re operating within very strict Covid-19 restrictions and quite rightly so, but that inevitably has an effect on our programmes and performance.”

Committee chairman, Councillor Mathew Dorrance noticed that more under 16 year olds went swimming, but the number of over 60’s had fallen.

He wondered if this meant that over 60s were staying away due to fear of Covid-19?

Mr Owen, said “Certainly during the pandemic there has been a decline, and there is a confidence issue, many are still using us but nowhere near the historic levels.”

Mr Owen added “It is about getting that message out there and we’ve written to all our members on lockdown, during lockdown, and as we re-activated.

“We informed them what our plans were and what measures had been put in place to give as much assurance for them that it was safe to return.”

He said that during the last meeting with the council’s portfolio holder for leisure, Councillor Rachel Powell a marketing campaign had been discussed.

“We agree that we’d campaign in January to March again to push that message of the benefits of exercise and mental health being so crucial, said Mr Owen.

It’s now five years since Freedom Leisure took over the PCC facilities.

The report showed that Freedom Leisure had enjoyed a “good year” before Covid-19, with income going up by 2.1 per cent and active participation at the centres rising by 2.9 per cent.