Flash operators post £750k budget surplus

By Elgan Hearn, Local Democracy Reporter

The company that operates leisure centres like The Flash and Llanfyllin on behalf of Powys County Council posted a surplus of £746,786 on their £12 million budget last year, councillors will be told.

At a meeting of Powys County Council’s Economy Residents and Communities scrutiny committee on Monday, councillors will be presented with not-for-profit company Freedom Leisure’s annual report for the 2023/2024 financial year.

The report shows that there has been a 3.4% increase in “total” participation and 0.9% in “active” participation when compared to 2022/2023.

Freedom Leisure said: “Participation increase demonstrates we are providing a good all-round service with good accessibility to all forms of exercise.

“This is supported by our centre programmes and services that engage with Powys communities.”

Figures for casual swimming have also increased by 3.1% and the learn to swim programme attracts 5,200 children to take part each week.

The report adds that there were 5,753 members as it stood at the end of March and “there has been consistent growth and uplift across all areas of programming”.

Electricity and gas usage by leisure centres has also dropped according to the report.

Freedom Leisure chief executive, Ivan Horsfall Turner, said: “The 2023/24 financial year saw record levels of participation and customer satisfaction in the services we have delivered in partnership with Powys County Council.

“I am immensely proud of the staff team that have delivered these results and who continue to work on our core mission of improving lives through leisure.

“Whilst we anticipate that 2024/25 will have challenges particularly as the council continue to explore the future shape of their leisure service through their ‘Sustainable Powys’ programme, I know that we can be confident that our team in Powys will continue to deliver to the best of their ability.”

Freedom Leisure runs 13 leisure, sports centres, and swimming pools across Powys and were awarded a 15-year council contract in 2015 to run the facilities.

The review into leisure facilities, which started last year, was prompted by the cost of living crisis and rising energy costs which saw the utility bills for running the centres jump up massively towards the end of 2022.

This saw a proposal to mothball three leisure centres from January to March 2023 – but following protests from opposition councillors the decision was cancelled as an extra £287,000 was given to Freedom Leisure to help them cope the with the energy costs.

The results of the review have yet to be finalised by the council.