South Holland councillors raise concerns about drop off at Spalding leisure centre

The importance of a leisure centre to one community and the ‘dramatic’ drop-off in numbers using another have been raised by councillors.

The Peele Leisure Centre in Long Sutton has been hosting fitness classes, gym equipment and hockey sessions for many years after the building was leased by South Holland District Council.

The authority has been hiring the building from University Academy Long Sutton but this agreement comes to an end in December, members of the council’s Performance Monitoring Panel were told.

Sutton Bridge councillor Chris Brewis told a recent the recent meeting: “It (The Peele Leisure Centre) is quite important for our end as we are so far away.”

Phil Perry, the council’s assistant director for leisure and culture, confirmed the lease will end on December 7 after Coun Michael Booth questioned if the council was going to lose the Peele.

Mr Perry said: “The facility goes back to the academy. We are working through the alternative delivery mechanisms.”

A report to the panel has also shown that there has been a drop in the number of gym members over the last year.

The council had 1,627 gym members during the first quarter of the last financial year but this dropped to 1,485 for the same period this year.

Visitor numbers to Spalding’s Castle Sports Complex - which is earmarked to have a £26million revamp - have fallen to 29,565 in the first quarter of this financial year compared to 34,569 for the same period in the previous year.

The Peele received 11,764 visitors in quarter one of the 2023/24 year but this has gone down to 8,129 for the same period this year. Councillors had previously called for greater promotion of the facility.

But there is some good news as visitor numbers to Spalding’s swimming pool have gone up. In the first quarter of the current financial year, there were 58,492 visitors compared with 52,369 for the same quarter in the previous year.

Concern was expressed by panel chairman, Coun Bryan Alcock, about the ‘dramatic’ drop off in visitor numbers to the Castle Sports Complex.

Mr Perry said there had been some changes as the council moves towards redeveloping the leisure centre, which will include new swimming pools, 3G pitches and a health hub.

He also stated that there had been some impact from the opening of Pure Gym in Spalding and that the council was looking at interim options.

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