Southwark Council has completed the takeover of its eight leisure centres – ending its seven-year association with the private company Everyone Active.
Council leader Kieron Williams marked the occasion at the Castle Leisure Centre, in Elephant and Castle, along with the council chief executive Althea Loderick, on Wednesday, June 21.
Southwark Council has made the move after being forced to bail out Everyone Active during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Councillor Catherine Rose, cabinet member for neighbourhoods, leisure and parks, said: “This is a decisive and bold step towards enhancing the wellbeing of our residents with full control of our leisure centres.”
“The opportunity to develop a fully integrated service with our parks, sports pitches and all facilities will allow us to respond to the priorities and needs of local people,” she added.
The takeover has been two years in the making and follows a 2021 council report that outlined the scale of problems facing Southwark’s leisure centre.
The council had awarded Everyone Active a seven-year contract in June 2016, hoping it would transfer financial risk away from itself.
But “unexpected financial risks” such as the pandemic and subsequent bailouts “reduced the financial benefits normally seen through outsourcing”.
The rise of “low cost budget gyms” and the council’s own free swim programme had also hit leisure centres’ revenues.
The council has acknowledged “the risks” of the takeover but believes it will “enable services to be fully responsive to council priorities”.
Southwark Council plans to upgrade gym equipment and bolster class offerings following “the initial settling-in” period.
Existing leisure centre members, staff and stakeholders are being transferred to the in-house service.
Reacting to the decision in September 2021, Mark Basker, Everyone Active’s Regional Contract Manager, said the decision was “disappointing” and it had been “a pleasure” working with the council.
