OPERATOR PERSPECTIVE
“In fact, public leisure generally needs to be valued more than is currently the case. Governments, local authorities and health authorities need to realise it may come at a cost. At the moment, there’s huge pressure on operators, with management fees payable to local authorities making margins ever narrower. In turn, that limits staff wages and the wider community health and wellbeing services that can be delivered.” The value of social contribution Commercial Director Emma Reeve adds: “The purpose of our existence at Freedom Leisure is to improve lives through leisure. Across our 68 pools, that includes not only mainstream swim sessions and learn-to-swim classes for some 60,000 children and adults, but also family fun sessions, dementia-friendly and SEN swimming, mobility sessions for GP referrals and so on. It’s about social value and engagement with the whole local community.” Horsfall Turner continues: “Some might say we should introduce more commercial elements to our swimming business, but doesn’t that miss the whole point of public leisure? There are plenty of others in the market who can deliver a commercial service. “Public leisure is meant to cater for those who wouldn’t find a home in private facilities, and that means subsidised activities. Stripping this back in favour of commercial activities is good for balancing the books, but not for service delivery. “I believe that swimming can and should be subsidised, that public leisure should be valued and funded, and that the days of ever-increasing management fees on ageing leisure stock are probably gone.”
Some products will be higher revenue drivers. Others can and should be subsidised to ensure they are delivered.
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STATE OF THE UK SWIMMING INDUSTRY REPORT 2023
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