Agenda item

To provide an update regarding the finance performance of LeisureSK Ltd during the financial year 2025/26.

The Chairman reminded the Committee that if there were questions in respect of the exempt papers attached to the report then the meeting would need to go in to private session to discuss them due their commercial sensitivity.

The Director of LeisureSK Ltd gave an overview to the Committee of the provisional financial year end 2025/26 for LeisureSK Ltd, the final Outturn Position report would come before the Committee in July 2026.

Costs projected from February forward showed an operating surplus of  £136,000 which was an additional £65,000 over the surplus that had originally been budgeted for.  A lot of the surplus was from income generated from events at Grantham.  Challenges were around membership numbers at some of the sites and an increase was being felt with numbers slowly increasing.  Savings had also been had from utilities; with a warm summer helping keep the pools warm and the Net Zero Pod would help with this going forward.

The LSK Business Plan for 2026/27 had showed at surplus of £184,000 when it was approved in December 2025 for the current financial year, which included the repayments on the loans previously mentioned by a Member of the Committee.

The Capital Programme contained money for improvements at Stamford around the gym area and work was on going looking at options for the best use of this space due to the challenges being encountered at Stamford due to other competition within the town.

The report showed a positive position with LeisureSK Ltd going forward and the Director appreciated the positive comments made by Members in respect of that.

The Chairman commented on the improvement of LeisureSK Ltd under the Directorship of Mr Scott and Councillor Knowles and the Teams guidance.

The other LeisureSK Ltd Director present, Councillor Philip Knowles asked if, rather than have the same reports go to two separate Committees whether a joint meeting of the Finance and Economic Overview and Scrutiny Committee and the Culture and Leisure Overview and Scrutiny Committee could be arranged.  He appreciated that in the past their were concerns with how LeisureSK Ltd was performing but felt that time had now passed.   The Chairman of the Committee acknowledged the comments made and indicated that this would be looked at going forward.

A Member asked what the Director of LeisureSK Ltd considered the biggest risks at the moment and whether Bourne was sustainable due to the nature of the building.

The Director of LeisureSK Ltd stated that one of the biggest issues was the up keep of the sites and working closely with Officers from the Council was a key area to ensure the sites remained health and safety compliant.  Income stability was another area with reference being made to the investment in gym equipment previously at the Bourne site which unlike Stamford did not have the competition challenges.  Having the right staff resources was another important area within the organisation there were key people and it was important that resilience was there within the staff resource at all the sites.  Due to the current climate fuel was also a risk at the present time.

A comment was made in respect of the meetings being held jointly also a question was raised about staffing costs to which the Director of LeisureSK Ltd responded.

A question was asked around membership sales and it was stated that due to the commercial sensitivity of the information this would be circulated to Members outside of the meeting.

ØAction

Membership numbers to be circulated to Members outside of the meeting.

Various comments were made in respect of the Stamford site and the size of the gym, the Assistant Director Leisure, Culture and Place stated that extending the site had been looked at as an option, however it was not progressed due to the cost and investment that would be involved.

Members noted the report.