The company that will take over the up-for-grabs council contract to run the leisure facilities at Spalding and Long Sutton will be decided at the end of the month.
Minutes released from a South Holland District Council meeting last month state the procurement process is coming to an end and the decision to award a contract will be made at the full council meeting on November 28.
The contract winners will take over the running of the Castle Sports Complex swimming pool and gym in Spalding, and the Peele Leisure Centre in Long Sutton. It is currently held by 1Life.
At the Joint Performance Monitoring Panel and Policy Development Panel meeting, councillors said that although the consideration of leisure provision was due to take place in April/May 2019 – around the time of the District
Council elections – “members commented that many of the current councillors had spend [sic] a lot of time in shaping the future of leisure, an should therefore have some input into the process”, the minutes state.
The officer in charge said they would “consider how this could be effected in light of timescales for the District Election.”
Officers also stated that site management has been specified within the new contract and “although the proposals did not include a new build of any of the facilities, there would be new investment on the sites, with an improvement in service and to the internal space”.
Break clauses have been written into the contract for both the authority and contractor, the committee heard.
The committee also heard SHDC has contracted a leisure management contract procurement company to check the figures.