Shropshire Council is set to continue discussions with the school and Trust that own Much Wenlock Leisure Centre, to help find solutions to keep the centre open for public use if the council opts to end its £280,000 annual subsidy to the centre next year.
Much Wenlock Leisure Centre
A report to the council’s cabinet recommends the council also explores options to source one-off capital investment to improve the site, while it gives Williams Brookes School and The 3-18 Education Trust, which runs the school, notice to end its subsidy to the Leisure Centre.
This would form part of the council’s wider plans to reduce spend as it seeks to find savings from its budget of £18m next year.
Any decision on the centre’s future would ultimately be made by William Brookes School and their parent trust, The 3-18 Education Trust, who along with other key stakeholders continue to explore how the centre could operate and if public use can continue if cabinet backs a recommendation to withdraw the council’s subsidy.
The recommendation follows a recent consultation regarding the centre’s future, where 1,819 people got in touch to have their say. Understandably, many of those who responded were against the proposed option to withdraw the council’s management and subsidy.
However, if approved, these changes would enable the council to save around £280,040 per year, what it pays towards the running of the centre, once a 12-month notice period has been served and initial costs are covered.
The centre itself is a joint-use facility integral to William Brookes School, which is one of nine schools that make up The 3-18 Education Trust, a company limited by guarantee.
The council currently operates and manages the centre on behalf of the Trust to provide community use when the facility is not being used for education purposes.
Robert Macey, Cabinet member for culture and digital, said:
“Understandably, the consultation showed most people wanted the service to remain. We appreciate that the changes we need to make could reduce community use, but our need to cut day to day costs of services means that we have some tough decisions to make.
“Leisure is not a statutory service, and while any service reduction would be regrettable, Much Wenlock Leisure Centre is expensive to run and maintain and we can no longer afford to provide this level of subsidy. Instead, we need to ensure that we continue to deliver those statutory services such as social care and children’s services, which keep people safe.
“However, we believe that if we can help identify possible sources of capital investment to further improve the centre, this could provide a basis for continued public access without any council subsidy. Discussions with all the partners and stakeholders will continue to seek to achieve this, but there is a long way still to go.
“Any notice period would enable the school and Trust to explore suitable operating models and investigate potential funding to support community use of the centre.
“It’s early days but we are encouraged by the conversations we’ve had so far. We will continue these conversations to hopefully secure the best future for the centre.”
Cllr Dan Thomas, who represents Much Wenlock, said:
“Around 78% of responses wanted Option 2 and to keep things as they are.
“The report’s recommendation to end the subsidy is regrettable, however we are hopeful that some level of public access could still be maintained.
“It would not mean the closure of the Leisure Centre to the public; I and others at Shropshire Council will continue talks with the 3-18 Education Trust, school and other stakeholders. There could be a way forward.
“Much Wenlock has the strongest sporting heritage of anywhere in Shropshire; I plan to honour that heritage by working hard for solutions here. If we can secure the capital investment, the Leisure Centre will become very attractive for a new provider.“
If the proposals are supported, the earliest the centre could close would be April 2026 following a Cabinet decision and the required notice period.
The report will be discussed by Cabinet at its meeting on 5 March 2025.
