News: Frank le Duc, The Vote

Are Brighton and Hove’s politicians fit to run a gym? Or should they leave it to a different sort of body?

The future of a popular but loss-making sports centre was given something of a workout at the end of last week, when it was discussed by Brighton and Hove politicians. Councillors were asked to approve handing over Portslade Sport Centre to a specialist management company. The decision was taken at Hove Town Hall by the Policy and Resources Committee of Brighton and Hove City Council.

“The original centre is over 40 years old and needs considerable investment”

A report to councillors spelt out the reasons for turning to the experts. They were mostly money-related, and the sums tot up to more than £1 million over the next five years. But Portslade is the only sports centre directly run by the council. The rest are run under contract by Freedom Leisure. The report said: “The original centre is over 40 years old and needs considerable investment in order to meet modern-day expectations.

“A recent condition survey carried out in April has identified £360,000 of works required over the next five years to roofs, mechanical and electrical installations, floors and general redecorations. In addition, the artificial turf pitch which was relaid in summer 2005 will require replacement in the next five years at a cost of approximately £130,000.

“The net revenue cost to the council of operating the centre is approximately £116,000 (a year).

In addition to this there has been approximately £75,000 spent on repairs to the roof over the past six years, with further required roof works planned for this financial year, which are estimated to be £60,000 to £80,000.”

The sports centre was opened by Margaret Thatcher, who was then the Education Secretary. She had ended free milk for children at junior schools and was greeted by protesters chanting: “Thatcher! Thatcher! Milk snatcher!”

Then, as today, the sports centre was used by children from the secondary with which it shared its grounds. When Portslade Community College became PACA (the Portslade Aldridge Community Academy), the sports centre remained in council hands. Talks have since been held with the Aldridge Foundation, the educational charity run by former Portslade schoolboy turned multimillionaire businessman Sir Rod Aldridge.

The foundation set up by Sir Rod sponsors the academy alongside the council, but sees its remit as running schools, not sports centres. It has however established sporting academies including the Aldridge Cricket Academy which is currently trying to raise money for an ambitious ten-day cricket tour of South Africa next February. A total of 25 youngsters will be given an opportunity normally only available to those educated privately.

So the challenge to councillors and officials was how to handle a much-loved community asset without further denting the council’s constrained finances. The report, considered on Friday, recommended inviting a leisure operator to take over on a six-year contract from next year. The contract would end at the same time as Freedom Leisure’s contract.

The report said: “Due to EU procurement regulations, Portslade Sports Centre cannot be automatically added to the existing citywide sports facilities contract with Freedom Leisure. The appointment of a leisure services provider would therefore be subject to a formal tender process. To gauge the level of interest of potential operators, the council and a representative from PACA have held site visits and informal discussions with six different operators, five of which were not-for-profit leisure trusts. All six operators said they would be interested in tendering.

“A leisure services provider has the benefit of economies of scale from managing many sports facilities. This has the potential to improve standards of service, and increase use of the centre through more effective programming and marketing.”

More than 4,000 people are registered to use the gym alone at the sports centre in Chalky Road. About 400 people a month – not necessarily the same 400 each month – hit the weights, exercise bikes, rowing and running machines there. The kit is modern and regularly refreshed, and the cost is competitive.

Over a year, more than 10,000 people use the sports centre as a whole – as do hundreds of students – with its big halls, refurbished squash courts and outdoor pitches. Fewer sports centre members drink in the bar than when the sports centre first opened, even though most are drawn from the Portslade area. But all of them will be hoping that the outlook is a healthy one.