East Northamptonshire Council in £200,000 leisure centre bailout

Pemberton Leisure and Conference Centre is one of three leisure centres run by Freedom Leisure

A company is set to benefit from more than £200,000 of taxpayers' money in order to reopen the leisure centres it runs.

East Northamptonshire Council has agreed to waive a monthly management fee usually paid by the firm Freedom Leisure.

The authority will also cover business costs and pay staff.

A spokesman said the move would allow three leisure centres, which were closed due to coronavirus, to reopen.

Freedom Leisure runs Pemberton Leisure and Conference Centre and The Splash Centre in Rushden, and the The Nene Centre in Thrapston, on a 10-year contract.

Monthly fee waived

They were forced to close when Prime Minister Boris Johnson introduced measures governing the coronavirus pandemic lockdown.

The Local Democracy Reporting Service said the council had agreed to waive a monthly management fee of £12,083.

It will also pay Freedom Leisure £44,487 a month to cover business costs, and £4,911 for staffing costs.

The funds, which add up to £205,924, will be backdated to 20 March.

It means the centres can open on 25 July, when lockdown measures are relaxed, or as soon as possible afterwards.

The authority is set to decide whether to continue with the funding in the future at a council meeting on 20 July.

The money used has come from £993,413 which the council received from Government to help cover coronavirus impact costs.

'Business impact'

Freedom Leisure, a not-for-profit organisation in East Sussex which runs 90 leisure facilities across the country, had already received a bailout from Fenland District Council for which it runs four leisure centres.

A spokesman for East Northamptonshire Council said the authority had "been in ongoing discussions with Freedom Leisure to understand the impact on their business" after leisure centres were forced to close due to the pandemic".

Freedom Leisure has been contacted for comment.