Conservative Councillors in B&NES have given a commitment to invest £15 million in new and improved sports and leisure facilities if they win the local elections taking place in May.
The funding commitment would allow for significant investment to be put into the upgrading and modernisation of the authority’s ageing leisure facilities in Bath and Keynsham.
The Council’s Wansdyke Leisure Centre in Midsomer Norton has already been handed to the Writhlington Sports Trust as part of a Community Asset Transfer deal.
At the time of the last local elections in 2011, Conservatives planned to spend up to £10 million to provide new and improved leisure centre facilities in Bath.
However, these plans were scrapped by the authority’s incoming Liberal Democrat administration.
At the Council’s recent budget meeting, Councillors agreed to earmark up to £15 million to upgrade leisure facilities in B&NES, and Conservative Councillors have said they will stick to this commitment if elected to run the Council in May, despite the need to find financial savings to cover a £1.5 million hole in the authority’s budget plans.
Conservative Group Leader Councillor Tim Warren said: “Back in 2011, Conservatives earmarked £10 million of funding to upgrade Bath’s leisure centre facilities, but these plans were then scrapped by the Liberal Democrats.
“We were therefore pleased to see the need to upgrade our area’s ageing leisure facilities put back onto the Council’s agenda at its recent Budget meeting.
“We believe that providing modern, first-rate sports and leisure facilities are integral to the Council’s responsibility to support healthy lifestyles.
“That’s why, if we are elected to run B&NES Council this May, Conservatives will ensure that the Council remains committed to investing up to £15 million to modernise local leisure facilities.
“The Council will need to make significant financial savings in the coming years, but if the Council doesn’t do something now to modernise its leisure facilities now, it will only be faced with an even higher bill further down the line.”
Cllr David Dixon (Lib Dem, Oldfield), Cabinet Member for Neighbourhoods, has responded to the above story, saying: “When I first took post in 2011 there was indeed a budget line for £10m to be spent on leisure facilities.
“You can therefore imagine my surprise when it came to light that this was totally unfunded for in the revenue budget.
“That is why for the past three years my team and I have worked very hard to ensure that come the first of July this year that a new leisure operator will be in place.
“We are now nearing the final stages of the tender and we are down to the final two bidders.
“With both we have secured over £15m of investment into our facilities and I have to say that by the end of March we will be down to the last bidder and I know that the public will be as excited as I am with the proposals.”
1 Comment
amanzi
Wednesday 11th March, 2015 at 08:21They should focus on a plan to sort out traffic congestion in bath and stop with multiple roadwork’s at the same time.