Leisure services changes are good news for town
NEW leisure service proposals in the face of Cheshire East Council cuts actually appear good news for Macclesfield – with investment in the town’s centre.
Following public consultation over previous plans an updated draft details expenditure on new fitness equipment at Macclesfield Leisure Centre, on Priory Lane.
And it seems as though Poynton’s, on Yew Tree Lane, is no longer earmarked as one that the council will drop and hope another provider may take over.
The council needs to save £1.3m in leisure service in 2024/25 as part of its Medium Term Financial Strategy.
Proposals to do this include ‘withdrawing the council’s interest in leisure centres in Middlewich and Holmes Chapel’.
Although the council says ‘it is not recommending the closure or part closure of any of our leisure centres’.
Other possible measures are reducing concessionary membership discount from 25 to 20 per cent, which the council says is in line with other authorities, and withdrawing this discount from people living outside the borough.
The proposed investment in Macclesfield would be under the ‘invest to save’ programme with charitable trust Everybody Health and Leisure.
This targets leisure centres where demand is highest and there are capacity issues.
Wilmslow and Shavington are also set to benefit.
Councillor Mick Warren, chair of the environment and communities committee, said: “The council receives no permanent income stream from leisure services.
“But we are responsible for paying building maintenance and utilities costs – which are rising drastically – and also invest in leisure services through the payment of an annual management fee.
“We must now look at how we can do things differently and focus the budget we do have available to us on where it will have the biggest impact, for the most people.
“The proposals we are putting forward will ensure that leisure services can become more financially sustainable, and that we can also continue to provide leisure centres that are modern and well-equipped.”
A report will go before the environment and communities committee on Monday, March 11.
It also seeks approval to delegate authority to enter into ‘top up’ funding agreements with town and parish councils for leisure services.
The council is not recommending the closure or part closure of any of its leisure centres.