A council leader has defended the proposed operating model for leisure centres, insisting it can help one of Southampton’s most deprived areas to thrive.
Cllr Lorna Fielker said leasing St Mary’s Community and Leisure Centre to a Southampton-based community organisation was a financially sustainable approach.
Cabinet members are set to sign off entering into an arrangement with Testlands at a meeting on Tuesday, June 17.
If approved, charity Testlands will take on the management of the grade II listed building once the council completes a £2.5million programme of essential repair work.
St Mary’s Leisure has been closed since the end of March following the end of former operator Active Nation’s contract.
The proposed long-term lease was largely discussed in confidential session at the overview and scrutiny cabinet meeting on Thursday, June 12, due to “commercially sensitive” information.
Before members of the public and press were excluded, Cllr Fielker told the committee the St Mary’s Road facility could be a place for residents to “grow and thrive”.
She said it had been a “really long journey” to address challenges with the building itself and find the right operating model.
“I’m really pleased that this cabinet report recommends appointing a local provider with a track record in delivering community-based leisure projects to operate the centre,” Cllr Fielker said.
“Testlands vision is to transform St Mary’s Community and Leisure Centre into a vibrant, inclusive financially-sustainable community hub.
“Their approach aims to enhance the existing activities and introduce new services to increase engagements as outlined in the report.”
Cllr Fielker sought to address “criticism” of appointing a community provider, which she said some people had described as “privatisation”.
The Labour council leader said the council will continue to own the building and set the specification for how it should be used.
“ If we want to invest more in that community, we need to have an operating model that enables grants to be applied, which the council is not entitled to do so,” Cllr Fielker said
“Charities have so many more options to do that and Testlands has a good track record.
“The feedback I have had is that members of the community are not bothered if it’s the council or the charity that is running it.
“They want a community facility that benefits their place and I’m really pleased that we are now able to deliver with a financially sustainable future for St Mary’s Community and Leisure Centre.”
Resident Sue Atkins, who was heavily involved in the campaign which led to the centre reopening three years ago, said the community was being kept out of the decision-making process.
She added: “We are seeing the socialisation of the losses and the privatisation of the profits.
“When will this council learn that it is a false economy and that services need to be brought back in house, properly staffed and funded by the council?”
Cllr Fielker said the leisure centre had been talked about in the council chamber more than many other items over a long period of time.
On the privatisation claims, she said: “We know we live in a very different world than we had previously when the council could operate all of those services.
“We know that’s not feasible and if we chose to do that now, we would be doing that at cost because we lack skills and capacity.
“We need to make sure we have got people who are skilled and those people are absolutely committed to Southampton.
“This isn’t some fly- by-night operator.
“This is an organisation founded here in the city that contributes to the city and gives back to the health and wellbeing.
“It’s not taking profit out and putting in anybody’s back pocket.
“It’s reinvesting in our communities.”
The committee was told the repairs, which include major work to the sports hall roof, were currently on budget and the building was on schedule to reopen later this year.
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