Wiltshire Council’s leisure facilities consultation questionnaire continues to anger local people, adding concern over the future of the town’s leisure facilities.
Attendees at the area board meeting on Thursday 19th August identified the questionnaire, which intends to consult local people on their views for proposed changes to leisure facilities in the county, as unfair and undemocratic.
As reported in the last issue of the White Horse News, the Save Westbury Pool committee has already criticised the questionnaire as one that is “quite clearly designed to elicit responses from the general public which confirm the Wiltshire Council’s preferred policy of providing new multi-purpose centres/hubs and off loading existing local facilities onto community trusts.”
At the area board meeting, people were invited to take part in a trial run of the questionnaire. However, a number of attendees refused to participate in protest at the questions. An objection to the questionnaire was minuted, and a vote revealed the majority of people present felt the questionnaire was unsuitable for purpose.
Leisure proposals brought to area board
Stuart Wheeler, Wiltshire Council cabinet member for leisure, sport, and culture, attended the area board meeting to present the council’s proposals for leisure facilities in the county, which suggest that Westbury should step forward and run both the pool and Leighton Recreation Centre through community ownership. However, people in Westbury continue to voice their dissatisfaction with the plans.
Cllr Wheeler emphasised that Wiltshire Council would ensure all facilities are in good condition and fit for purpose before being handed over, and that the council would support the community as it takes over the facilities. He added that the proposed £3m indoor bowls facility for Leighton Recreation Centre, along with refreshment facilities, represented a “major investment” in Westbury.
However, Stephen Pyne, coach of Westbury Swimming Club, is one of many who feel that Westbury comes off badly in the proposals. “How it looks to me and a lot of other people is that the council is abandoning the two leisure facilities in Westbury, and the people of Westbury are still expected to pay their council tax to support pools and great big leisure facilities in surrounding towns,” he said. “I just think this is completely unfair on the people of Westbury.”
Cllr Wheeler was asked what would happen if Westbury completely rejects the idea of running the facilities through community ownership. He responded by saying that this was something the council would “bear in mind.”
The consultation will run until 29th October. The cabinet will review the outcome of the consultation in December 2010 and full council will consider the financial impact of the proposals in February 2011.
If the town steps forward to run the facilities, the transfer of Westbury Pool to community ownership is set to take place in 2017, while the transfer of Leighton Recreation Centre would take place by 2016, once work on the facilities is completed.
Community ownership
A community-run leisure centre means a facility that is managed and operated by the local community and not the council. This may require a suitable group or organisation to be established, and there could be other local organisations that may be interested in managing their local leisure facilities.
The question of how community ownership would be implemented in Westbury was also raised at the area board meeting, particularly regarding whether the Leighton Recreation Centre and Westbury Pool would be combined under one trust.
Cllr Wheeler said the council was not prescribing any particular method or body to take over the facilities, and that it was up to the people of Westbury to put their thoughts forward in the consultation.
Mike Parker, a member of the Save Westbury Pool Committee, believes that Westbury Pool would not survive if the two facilities are not run under a single trust, as it does not have the ability to make money to support itself. “I firmly believe that if the council doesn’t take the decision to combine Leighton and the pool under one trust arrangement, it will effectively be consigning Westbury Pool to failure,” he said. “Westbury pool does not have the facilities that Leighton can use to make money, it totally uses the building for swimming, there’s not space for a café, there’s barely room for a vending machine.”
Organisations invited to leisure meeting
Westbury Town Council is hosting a meeting to discuss setting up a community trust with the intention of running the town’s leisure facilities at Leighton Recreation Centre and Westbury Swimming Pool.
Organisations and interested parties are invited to the meeting, which will be held on Tuesday 14th September at the Laverton at 7.00pm.
In its recent shake-up of leisure facilities across the county, Wiltshire Council is proposing that Westbury should step up and run its leisure facilities through community ownership.
Mike Cuthbert-Murray, Wiltshire unitary councillor for Westbury east, town councillor and president of the Save Westbury Pool Committee said, “There’s a wide range of people wanting to come forward. We need people with experience, from the pool and Leighton, as well as schools, financial experts, and health professionals.”
