Braintree: Council signs off £700k to support Fusion Lifestyle

Leisure centres were forced to close in March under lockdown rules amid the coronavirus pandemic

A council has agreed a deal worth £700,000 to sustain a charity that runs its local leisure centres.

Braintree District Council said its deal with Fusion Lifestyle will enable a "phased reopening" of its facilities.

The leisure centres were forced to close in March under lockdown rules amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Conservative council leader Graham Butland, said "alternatives" to supporting Fusion Lifestyle "would cost us more" than leaving them closed.

The council has already provided £167,000 of support for Fusion Lifestyle's sites in Braintree, Halstead and Witham through lockdown and has committed to a provision of up to £700,000 at a meeting last week.

'Overarching deficit'

"Mothballing or not using [the leisure centres] costs money," said Mr Butland. "There are not a lot of people looking to invest in leisure centres at the moment."

Fusion Lifestyle's regional business manager Carl Bentley said in a statement "The Covid-19 crisis has had a huge financial impact on our sector and footfall and income is projected to be significantly down over the next year while we operate within the new guidelines."

The company also runs centres on behalf of Rochford and Southend councils.

Mark Tweedie, chief executive of Community Leisure UK which represents public leisure centres like those run by Fusion, said he was "not surprised" by the situation.

"There is an overarching deficit of £800m across the leisure sector up to March 2021," he said.

He said that while the arts industry had received £1.57bn from government, no money had been "ring fenced" for leisure.

According to Fusion's website, it operates 84 leisure sites including gyms, swimming pools and sports grounds across England, with the majority of sites in the south east. It also has a site in Wales.

Last month it announced 72 jobs were at risk of redundancy at its leisure sites in Somerset, citing the coronavirus pandemic.