A coalition of more than 200 bodies and individuals from the worlds of health, sport, recreation, and leisure – including the LGA – has written to the Prime Minister calling for urgent intervention and greater support for grassroots facilities and clubs, amid the ongoing energy crisis.
Research from ukactive, which represents the sector, highlights that 31 per cent of council areas in England remain at risk of losing their leisure centres or seeing reduced services from 1 April. Around 350 facilities nationally have already seen service restrictions, and temporary and permanent closures, since October 2022.
The letter warns that a failure to identify bespoke support for the sector as part of the Government’s Energy Bills Discount Scheme will be the “final straw” for many facilities and services – especially swimming pools.
Without national intervention, essential local services – including swimming lessons for children, multi-sport offerings, mental health services, and programmes for older citizens, ethnically diverse communities, women and girls, and disabled people – will be lost, it warns.
The LGA is lobbying for the Energy and Trade Intensive Industries Scheme and Energy Bills Discount Scheme to be extended to leisure centres and swimming pools. As first was going to press, the Minister for Sport was expected to attend a meeting of the LGA’s Culture, Tourism and Sport Board.
The LGA is encouraging councils to write to their MPs about the pressures on local leisure and sport facilities (email [email protected] for a template letter), and has an online hub outlining its lobbying and support on this issue.