Leisure operator silent on potential closures

Freedom Leisure who run leisure facilities on behalf of Powys County Council have declined to comment over claims eight swimming pools in the county could be at risk.

Powys County Councillor Liberal Democrat Raiff Devlin has claimed the potential closures were discussed at a briefing for town and community councils in Crickhowell.

Over recent months several meetings have been held with town and community councils in which senior county council staff, including chief executive Emma Palmer, have tried to explain what the “Sustainable Powys” idea actually means.

Freedom Leisure were asked by the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) whether they had been told by the council that eight swimming pools are under threat of closure.

A spokesman for Freedom Leisure said: “We won’t be making any comment at this time.”

Not for profit company, Freedom Leisure runs 13 leisure, sports centres, and swimming pools across Powys and were awarded a 15 year council contract in 2015 to run the facilities.

A review into leisure facilities which was started last year was prompted by the cost of living crisis and rising energy costs which saw the utility bills for running the centres jump up massively towards the end of 2022.

This saw a proposal to mothball three leisure centres from January to March 2023 – but following protests from opposition councillors the decision was cancelled as an extra £287,000 was found and give to Freedom Leisure them cope the with energy costs.

Since then, Freedom Leisure has said that they had worked to bring their energy costs down.

In Powys, leisure centres cost around £3 million per year to run.

A Powys council spokesman said: “No decisions have been made.

“The council is currently forecasting a funding shortfall of more than £18 million for the next financial year with that figure rising to £64 million or more over the next three years.

“We can’t afford to continue delivering our services in the same way.”

Councillors are set to receive an update on the leisure review on Monday, July 15.