Issue - meetings

The Panel is invited to comment on the One Leisure Independent Review Update.

Executive Councillor: Councillor S Howell

By means of a report and presentation by One Leisure Business and Operations Manager (copies of which are appended in the Minute Book), the One Leisure Independent Review Update was presented to the Panel.

Councillor Bywater gave his thanks to the Head of Leisure and his team for the great work undertaken in the progress made by the service. The Panel heard that following the improvement works to the swimming pool at One Leisure Sawtry, an open event was planned for the community ahead of the centres reopening to the public.

Councillor Shaw praised the results shown by the service but expressed disappointment at the level of staff engagement. The Panel heard that work had been undertaken over the past twelve months and that the service was confident that this was improving significantly.

The Panel heard that following the initial review and restructure significant work had been undertaken to develop income streams as well as concessionary memberships. It was noted that marketing support would be put in place in order to communicate the positive work undertaken by the service. The increase in One Leisure’s net promoter score was noted going from below to above the national average. Following a further request from Councillor Hassall, the Officer undertook to review the SWOT analysis from 2025 and to update the Panel with the results of this.

Councillor Alban welcomed the proposed marketing support for One Leisure and noted that the Council’s recycling and waste teams did great work on social media. In response to a further question from Councillor Alban, the Panel heard that an increase in teenage customers within the gyms after school has been observed and that centres had ensured sufficient staffing resources over this time to ensure that this increased footfall was supported.

It was observed that many Councillors received colloquial feedback from residents on One Leisure and that this word of mouth feedback was unlikely to be fed back through official channels.

Councillor Hunt concluded with his experience on the One Leisure Shadow Board and advised that it had provided a useful insight into the developments being made in the service and the progress on the identified actions.

Following the discussion, it was

RESOLVED

that the comments of the Overview and Scrutiny Panel be passed to Cabinet for their consideration when making a decision upon the recommendations within the report.