Eastbourne Borough Council made the decision to close the Sovereign Centre’s shallow and fun pool as part of a range of cost-cutting measures in November last year.
The authority reported facing an “unprecedented strain on council finances” due to the cost of homelessness and temporary accommodation and made a series of cuts to balance its budget, including the closure of The Beachy Head Story in September.
The council has now announced it is negotiating terms with a new potential tenant of the Sovereign Centre, GLL, otherwise known as Better, which operates 140 pools across the country.
A minimum lease of three years is set to be agreed that would retain the gala pool, keep the training pool open and enable the fun pool to welcome swimmers seasonally, from spring to October.
GLL would also provide access to a range of industry leading memberships and activities, such as ‘Better Swim School’ which teaches 220,000 students nationwide each week.
Campaign group Save the Sovereign Centre still plans to stage a protest outside the centre on Saturday, February 1, due to “key issues not being addressed”, such as only a partial opening being proposed.
Councillor Stephen Holt, leader of Eastbourne Borough Council, said: “As a resident who knows and loves the Sovereign Centre, this update is positive news for our pools and positive news for our town.
“Despite council-run pools closing across the country over the last decade due to spiralling costs, councillors have been determined to find the most sustainable solution for the future of the Sovereign Centre.
“The agreement in negotiation with GLL would achieve this, and without taxpayers being charged an unaffordable £300,000 plus every year to plug the gap.
“As a result of these negotiations, the training pool will remain open. We will also be reopening the fun pool as soon as possible.
“GLL’s excellent track record and considerable experience in the sector proved to us that they have the capacity and financial credibility to take on such an important service on behalf of our town.
“I absolutely know that people in Eastbourne will show their commitment to keeping the pools by using them.
“I’d like to thank all those residents and potential tenants for their contributions to this process – especially to our partners at Wave Active for their continued support and commitment to community sports and leisure in Eastbourne. I look forward to continuing to collaborate with them all to develop plans for leisure across Eastbourne in the long term.”
Joseph Rham, GLL’s customer and communities director, said: “We look forward to working with the local community and centre staff to deliver the best possible leisure services at the Sovereign Centre.
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“Over the coming weeks we will begin community engagement activities and will also provide more detailed information on programming, memberships and the lessons & courses that will be available through our customer brand Better.
“On a personal note, as someone who was brought up in Eastbourne and has spent many hours swimming at the Sovereign Centre, I fully appreciate its importance to local residents and the social value it provides to the health and wellbeing of the local community.”
The centre was transferred to Wave Active at the beginning of this year.
A spokesman for Wave Active said: “Wave Active is a champion of physical activity, community sports and leisure provision. Managing a number of swimming pools in East Sussex, we obviously have a detailed understanding of the associated operational requirements, revenue opportunities and costs.
“Regarding our recent role at the Sovereign Centre, it followed a request by the council to prepare financial models based on a series of defined scenarios, set against the severe financial constraints the council is currently managing. One key requirement of each model was to protect swimming provision.
“We understand GLL has agreed to operate the Sovereign Centre at their financial risk. They operate over 240 leisure centres and work with 60 local authorities across the UK and clearly possess the financial resilience needed to keep all the swimming pools at the Sovereign Centre open.
“We are pleased that confirmation of this arrangement means local people will continue to enjoy all the swimming facilities at this much-loved venue.”
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