LEISURE: Millions of pounds needed to keep leisure facilities open

A minimum of £3m needs to be spent on maintenance work to ensure the facilities meet health and safety requirements.

Council officers say some sites have obsolete plant and equipment where if it goes wrong, it could close the facility for several months.

The council gave an emergency £1m earlier this year, will subside it by £2.8m annually and will also put another £3m towards health and safety costs and maintenance at facilities.

Council officers told the meeting the safety of the public was paramount.

Eugene Walker, executive director of resources at Sheffield Council, said: “Our officers worked with the trust to identify the absolute minimum necessary, which is £3m, to keep facilities open for the moment because we want to be absolutely assured about health and safety.

“We know there are really serious health and safety issues running leisure facilities and neither us nor the trust can afford for that to go wrong. We need to make sure we are protecting people.

“There’s a fine line between what’s the minimum necessary and what is the required amount for health and safety. There is a lot of work between officers to come up with that number.”

Ryan Keyworth, director of finance and commercial services said in addition to the £2.8m a year, some short-term investment was required to keep facilities operational.