Sports centre at Huddersfield John Smith's Stadium to close suddenly
Staff at an at-risk leisure centre in Huddersfield have been told it will shut next week.
The decision to close the Stadium Health & Fitness Club, run by Kirklees Active Leisure (KAL) at the John Smith's Stadium, comes as Kirklees Council wrestles with a £47m black hole in its finances.
The council had previously given KAL - the charitable trust that manages the authority’s leisure services across the borough - permission to explore a withdrawal from the stadium site.
But KAL has now announced that the facility, which was running "at a substantial loss", will close permanently on 30 November.
A review of leisure centres began during the summer to determine which of KAL's centres will remain open in the coming years.
Three sites - Scissett Baths and Fitness Centre, Batley Sports and Tennis Centre, and Dewsbury Sports Centre – require more than £1m of investment.
Options being explored as recently as August included mothballing centres in the hope of re-opening them in the future, and closing centres completely.
The council was also said to have agreed that KAL could "explore" pulling out of the Stadium Health and Fitness Club.
In recent years KAL has received significant cash bail-outs from the council in order to shore up the service. Those sums included £4m in 2020 and £3.5m in 2021.
its £16m annual turnover was hugely affected by national lockdown measures during 2021, leading to fears about the body’s operating position, financial sustainability, and risk of insolvency.
The situation prompted officials with the GMB Union to call for out-sourcing to stop - and for the council to bring KAL back in-house and run the service directly.
The council set aside £6.1m for KAL in its budget for the current financial year. However, that will drop to a maximum of £2.55m in 2023/24.
The reason given for the sudden closure is soaring costs around inflation, energy, and staffing.
Kirklees Council's parlous financial situation means funding for KAL has been slashed from £6.1m this year to a maximum of £2.55m.
A statement on KAL’s website says: "KAL operates the Stadium Health and Fitness Club on a commercial lease basis, with significant rental and service charge costs to Kirklees Stadium Development Limited (KSDL), the overall operator of the John Smith’s Stadium site, being a major factor for the facility operating at a substantial loss.
"Unfortunately, this position is no longer sustainable for the charity, and, to allow KAL to decant the Stadium site, it is with significant regret that KAL must inform customers that the Stadium Health and Fitness Club will close permanently on Thursday 30 November 2023.
"KAL absolutely appreciate that customers will be disappointed with this outcome, however the extremely challenging financial circumstances and high rental / service charge costs at the Stadium site give KAL no alternative but to sadly end our lease at the facility."
The council’s consultation on the review of leisure centres has recently come to a close after receiving more than 17,000 responses.
Only two leisure centres – Huddersfield and Spen Valley – are safe from the axe and a final decision on the remaining sites will be made in December.
Swimming pools across the borough are also set to be axed and the council has opted to dispose of some sites, including the DRAM (Dalton, Rawthorpe and Moldgreen) Sport and Community Centre, as it fights to balance the books.