Cornwall Council have gained full committee support for their Leisure Resource Delivery Strategy – a document which sets out the way in which Cornwall Council aim to provide for the future management and provision of Cornwall’s Leisure Centres and their facilities.

The primary objective of this document is to encourage private sector interest in the future management and provision of leisure services which the Council hope will include the transfer of ownership of the Leisure Centres into the private sector with a commitment from the operator to provide leisure services for a ten year period.

We are a small group who represent the majority of swim clubs throughout Cornwall who use the leisure centres to help train and develop the swimming skills of almost 2,000 children between the ages of 7 – 18 yrs. Living in the county with the longest coastline in the UK we feel that swimming is an essential part of the development of young people in Cornwall.

We have met with Adam Paynter, Cabinet Member for Finance and Resources and Jeremy Rowe, Deputy Leader of the Council and Cabinet Member for Devolution and Localism to discuss the reasons and background to the Council’s decision. Since that meeting which took place on the 10/12/14 we have been awaiting information relating to the running costs and property background to the leisure centres. To date that information has not been fully collated and distributed by the Council.

On 20/02/15 we also met with Michael Crich, Head of Commissioning & Asset Management, Economy, Enterprise & Environment to discuss this issue. It was at this meeting we were told that the Council had decide that it no longer wanted to be a leisure services provider to the people of Cornwall, but that it wanted to build houses instead.

We were informed at both meetings that the Council were not prepared to enter into another management contract with an external provider as the current contract with Tempus Leisure was so commercially weak and left the bulk of the liabilities for the maintenance and upkeep of the leisure centres with the Council.

It is our view that the Council must reconsider this disastrous strategy. If leisure centres throughout Cornwall are sold off or ownership transferred by means of a long leasehold interest, under the current proposals then Cornwall could be left with no leisure centres in just ten years time.

Furthermore, just because the Council negotiated a poor commercial contract with an operator last time, is absolutely no excuse not to explore a fairly negotiated and commercially sound contract with a new operator in the future.

This would enable the ownerships of the leisure centres to be retained, which is vital to secure leisure services in the county for future generations.

Finally, if these approaches are not supported, the Council should actively engage with local community groups to see what demand there is for them to take over the running of the leisure centres using the example of Camelford Leisure Centre.

elective abortion gerlinde.it are abortions free

naltrxone click ldn website

naltrexone and drinking alcohol centaurico.com what does naltrexone feel like

mechanism of action of naltrexone floridafriendlyplants.com low dose naltrexone for opiate withdrawal