Fury as leisure centre could charge under-5s

Operator Inspire Leisure wants to impose charges on some of the youngest users of the building.

But the idea this week provoked strong objections from Arun District Council members at their first chance to debate the matter.

They overwhemingly voted to overturn a recommendation from one of their officers that they should agree to Inspire Leisure's proposals.

Instead, they issued a strongly worded amendment that no charges for under-fives should be imposed. This revised recommendation will be put to all councillors in the coming weeks for a final decision.

The council's verdict is crucial. The terms of the management deal under which Inspire Leisure, a non-profit making trust, took over running Arun's loss-making eisure facilities state that the trust has to obtain the approval of the council to any significant changes in their operation.

Opposition to the proposed charges spanned the political spectrum on Arun's policy development scrutiny committee on Tuesday.

Conservative member Cllr Alan Stainton (Felpham West) said: 'I don't understand what is going on here. The trust was set up to improve the leisure facilities for the benefit of our residents.

'What we have here now is a situation where the under-fives are at risk of being charged whether it's to use the pool or general facilities. That's not a benefit, it's a disbenefit. I think it's grossly unfair. As business people, the trust should recognise that the under-fives are the future business of these leisure facilities. They should not be pushing parents away to other facilities.'

Cllr Alan Butcher (Labour, Wick with Toddington) said he did not understand why under-fives should be expected to bear a financial burden to improve the finances of the trust.

Liberal Democrat Cllr Ian Harding (Bognor Regis Marine) said the imposition of charges on the youngsters would be worsened by Inspire Leisure's desire to push up general admission charges by up by an inflation-busting 10pc.

The current charges for the 160,000 or so annual swimmers at the Arun Leisure Centre are 2.20 for adult members and 3.80 for non-members. Juniors aged under 18 pay 1.50 and 2.75.

Jacqui Ball, Arun's head of strategy and partnership, presented Inspire Leisure's proposals to the committee after a meeting with trust representatives.

She said the trust wanted to charge under fives comparable prices to those paid by the over-fives. This ability to impose a fee was sought because the youngsters were the most costly users to manage because of pool cleaning and hygiene needs when minor incidents occurred.

Some other swimming pools '“ Chichester and Arundel among them did charge their youngest users '“ but she said many others, like Worthing and Horsham were free. Her suggestion that the council modify Inspire Leisure's intentions by letting under-twos in free was rejected by the committee.

Members also agreed to recommend to their fellow councillors that Inspire Leisure should only be allowed to shut the creche at the leisure centre if an alternative location was found within the building.

This new site had to be agreed with the council before it could be brought into use. Mrs Ball said the creche's current position from the centre's reception area was considered to be unsuitable.

But the trust's desire to shut it completely should be rejected. Inspire Leisure had said the creche lost 10,000 a year and only had 1,100 visits to date this year during its three hours a weekday opening times.

Its trustees want to use the current creche space for a money-spinning shop or extension to the centre's cafe. However, councillors did agree to Inspire Leisure's wishes to simplify its pricing structure to remove the double or treble discounting for those with cut price deals for disabled and disadvantaged customers which resulted from its nine variations of membership.

Outside the meeting, an Inspire Leisure spokeswoman said: 'The trust wants the ability to charge under-fives. It is not intended to bring in the charge from next month, when our prices tend to change, but we want to be able to introduce the charge in the future if necessary.

'We are looking at our prices at the moment to decide what our new charges will be. No decisions have yet been made.'