Union attacks New Forest leisure centres management privatisation as 'false economy'

PRIVATISING management of the New Forest’s public leisure centres was attacked as a “false economy” by union members as the plan was given the go-ahead by senior councillors this week.

The district council’s Conservative cabinet signed off spending £100,000 on tendering for an outside organisation to run the facilities in New Milton, Lymington, Ringwood, Applemore and Totton.

If it does not find a suitable partner, the authority will look at setting up an arm’s-length trading company to take advantage of tax breaks. It would retain ownership of the premises under either option.

But the approach was criticised by Unison as likely to create worse conditions for staff and fail to make the £4m savings anticipated over the 10-year contract.

In a letter, Unison south-east regional organiser Peter Terry described the £100,000 tendering exercise as “wholly unjustified” and accused NFDC of failing to consult with residents or robustly analyse how the proposals would affect staff.

He wrote: “Our experience from similar exercises in other authorities is that outsourcing such as this is a total false economy which results in little or no financial gain, a lack of investment, a deteriorating and inflexible service restrained by contract and a lack of democratic control and accountability.

“Any cost savings that are achieved are usually at the expense of staff, their pay, terms and conditions and pensions.”

The proposals were defended by Cllr James Binns, NFDC’s cabinet member for health and wellbeing, who told the meeting on Wednesday that the change would protect the service from the impact of government funding cuts.

He said: “By retaining the current model, we do not secure the leisure services’ future but make the department susceptible to the possibility of further central government funding reductions.

“Add to that, our centres are ageing and many of them are at capacity so we cannot offer a comprehensive service to the wider community, unless we look at partners and alternative funding streams.

“This option enables us to do that. If we do not, our centres risk falling behind our competitors.”

No decisions have been made yet, Cllr Binns promised, adding: “We will continue to have an open dialogue with staff and speak to our customers.

“If we’re not satisfied with the partnership, we will not select the best of a bad bunch. We will look at setting up an arm’s-length NFDC trading company.”

Before the centres’ management changes hands there will be reviews of leisure staffing, prices, and activities with the aim of saving £600,000 of a £1m target by 2020/21.

The proposals came to the cabinet after being agreed by a group of councillors comprising eight Conservatives and one Liberal Democrat, as well as Cllr Binns.

They were described by NFDC leader Cllr Barry Rickman as “really big and important”.

Backbencher Cllr Geoffrey Blunden commented: “It’s not a sale of leisure centres, it’s a partnership and that partnership, I am sure, will be very involved.

“The proof of the pudding will be in the contract which will need to be robust and if it is not we will not go forward with it.”

After the meeting Cllr Binns told the A&T that analysis of comparable councils doing the same thing showed they had ended up with cheaper prices for customers and had not cut their staff.

A management board including Cllr Binns and the chosen company would hold quarterly meetings to oversee the contract, he said.

He added: “I would be very surprised if there were massive changes. All these organisations have made it clear that if they were to partner with us they would work with staff and customers. To be a good partner it makes no business sense to change everything.”

NFDC has an existing private management set-up at Dibden golf centre which is run by Mytime Active on a 30-year contract.

However, as reported by the A&T, in 2017 councillors were “disappointed” with the standards at the course amid a £210,000 shortfall in the promised investment programme due to declining revenue blamed on a downturn in the sport’s popularity.

In response, £560,000 was proposed to be spent by Mytime Active over five years with regular monitoring meetings with the council.