Last year was an extremely tough year for local authority leisure, with the speed and severity of the cuts being unprecedented. The Chief Leisure Officers Association’s (CLOA) impact survey in 2011 indicated that one third of authorities were planning savings of 30 per cent across culture and sport services over two financial years.
Sports development and leisure facility operations are bearing the brunt. At a time when there is an increased awareness of the need to address health inequalities, the less efficient off-peak hours are being squeezed and funding pulled on many initiatives aimed at reaching special populations.
Services are being rationalised, hours reduced and facilities closed, or handed over to the community to run. Staff have been made redundant and posts left unfilled when people have left.
The immediate future doesn’t look heartening either: more cuts will be implemented this year and public spending is set to be reduced by a further 0.9 per cent in real terms in 2015/16 and 2016/17.
However, looking for the silver lining, adversity does breed creativity, and some local authorities and trusts are pro-actively seeking partnerships, acting collaboratively and looking for ways to tap into healthcare funding when it is reformed. Although there will be many casualties of the cuts, hopefully there will be a few phoenixes rising from the ashes too.