SWANSEA Council will need to keep subsidising leisure centres but using a third party to operate them is less expensive than running them itself, a meeting heard.
Seven years ago the authority awarded a contract to leisure operator Freedom Leisure to run the LC, in the city centre, and other leisure centres in the county.
The council retained ownership of the buildings and pays Freedom Leisure an annual management fee. The fee in 2023-24 was just over £987,000, which was around £1m less than the first year of the contract.
There has been further financial support from the council to sustain the leisure centres during the Covid pandemic, when energy bills spiked following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and to help with wider cost-of-living pressures.
Cllr Robert Francis-Davies, cabinet member for investment, regeneration, and tourism, told a council scrutiny panel: “I’m very happy with the work Freedom Leisure are doing.”
A report before the panel said visitor numbers to the seven leisure centres and sports complexes operated by Freedom Leisure rose by 3% in 2023-24 to just under 1.9m.
Total income, excluding the management fee and external grants, was £8.31m in 2023-24 – again a 3% rise on the year before. Total expenditure was £9.88m, down a fraction from £9.89m in 2022-23.
The report said the council provided £228,542 on top of the management fee in 2023-24 to help with increased energy and staff costs, rises in inflation, and cost-of-living pressures.
Cllr Jeff Jones asked if there would be a point when the council would not have to pay a subsidy. Cllr Francis-Davies replied that this was never the intention but that expenditure had come down compared to when the council ran the facilities. He said: “I don’t think we will ever get to zero [subsidy].” He also said some councils in England have had to close leisure centres.
Tracey McNulty, Swansea’s head of cultural services, parks, and cleansing, said the council had analysed costs and set an “affordability level” before inviting operators to bid for the contract. “We have an operator that we effectively pay to run these leisure centres but at a level that’s way more affordable than we could have achieved,” she said.
The meeting heard that usage of the refurbished Cefn Hengoed Leisure Centre in Bonymaen, with its indoor sports pitch, has soared. Jeremy Rowe, Freedom Leisure operations director, said visitor numbers hit around 94,000 in 2024-25 compared to just over 33,500 in 2023-24.
Mr Rowe went on to say that not-for-profit Freedom Leisure had maintenance obligations as part of its 19.5-year contract with the council. There has been investment in new boilers, pumps, and solar panels, he said, to bring down energy costs, and some external grant funding has been secured.
Ms McNulty said the council maintained a “sinking fund” – a pot of money kept aside for when significant work was needed.
Cllr Chris Holley, panel convenor, asked Freedom Leisure for a breakdown in writing of what the management fee consisted of and for details of who was responsible for what in terms of repairs.
Cllr Sue Jones asked if something could be done to deter dog owners who didn’t pick up their pets’ mess at the Freedom Leisure-operated Elba Sports Complex, Gowerton. According to Cllr Jones primary schoolchildren locally had designed signs asking owners to be responsible but Freedom Leisure didn’t allow them to be put up.
Mr Rowe said he would welcome “interaction” with the school on the issue and could look at social media messaging and potentially a campaign.
Cllr Francis-Davies said the minority of dog owners who didn’t pick up after them was a problem across parks more widely. “Everybody knows that dog owners should pick up dog mess,” he said.
