Trafford Council plans £24.4m investment in leisure facilities

Trafford Council has revealed plans to invest £24.4m into improving the region’s leisure facilities as part of its new Physical Activity Vision leisure strategy.

The council, which owns nine leisure centres in Greater Manchester, said the investment was needed after a joint Strategic Needs Assessment (JSNA) – published earlier this year – estimated that physical inactivity was costing the council an extra £4.8m each year.

As a result of the JSNA, the council commissioned a partnership of leisure industry experts – Max Associates, Alliance Leisure and Pozzoni Architects – to evaluate the potential for investment in council-owned leisure centres and to produce an independent analysis of commercial viability.

The report recommends the modernisation of a number of leisure centres and the building of a new £10m facility in Altrincham.

It also proposes the closure of George H Carnall Leisure Centre in Trafford and the consolidation of leisure services in the area at an improved Urmston Leisure Centre.

In an executive report, the council said the £24.4m capital investment would be financed “from a combination of capital receipts, external grants and borrowing”.

The proposals will be tabled to the council’s executive committee later this month and considered for the 2017-18 council budget.

If approved, the facility strategy will be adopted from January 2017.

The council’s centres are currently operated by Trafford Leisure CIC, a community interest company, wholly owned by Trafford Council. It took over the management contract from Trafford Community Leisure Trust in 2015.