The charity that runs many of Powys’s leisure centres is encouraging the Welsh government to provide extra support for Welsh leisure centres after today’s budget announcement.
Chancellor Jeremy Hunt was set to announce in his spring budget that there will be a new one-year fund, which will be made available to public leisure centres with pools to help with energy costs.
Ivan Horsfall Turner, chief executive of Freedom Leisure, the not-for-profit leisure trust that manages many of Powys' pools, wants the Welsh Government to follow suit and support the industry which has been heavily hit by the increased cost of energy.
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“We very much welcome the additional funding which will support our efforts to reduce our carbon emissions and help with our eye watering energy bills but this is very much the first step,” said Mr Horsfall Turner.
“We will continue to work with our industry and local authority partners to put swimming pools on a more sustainable and long-term footing.
“Although there will no doubt be more detail to come it is expected that this funding will only be for centres in England. We operate a significant number of pools in Wales that are under equal financial pressures due to rising energy costs and we await an announcement from the Welsh government as to whether they will follow suit.”
In England, a total of £40 million will help pools cut carbon emissions for the long-term, with more than £20 million available to tackle rising utility bills.
The fund, which will be managed by Sport England, will allow local authorities to apply for funding for leisure centres with pools that face immediate cost pressures including operational and maintenance costs, and energy bills.
According to Freedom Leisure they have seen their annual energy bill rise from £8 million to £20 million and this is despite the current short-term support available for businesses with the temporary cap.
Mr Horsfall Turner added: “We have campaigned hard recently with other industry bodies for this extra funding and are pleased that the government has finally taken notice and recognised the challenging situation felt by the sector and the value of leisure centres and swimming pools to local communities.”
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