The Chair to ask if any Member present is substituting for another Member and, if so, to declare his/her name as substitute Member and the name of the absent Member.

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Mrs V. Cook (Vice-Chair), Mrs D.C. Earl-Williams and the Head of Neighbourhood Services.

It was noted that Councillors Mrs M.L. Barnes and R.B. Thomas were present as substitutes for Mrs V. Cook and Mrs D.C. Earl-Williams respectively.

To receive any disclosure by Members of personal and disclosable pecuniary interests in matters on the agenda, the nature of any interest and whether the Member regards the personal interest as prejudicial under the terms of the Code of Conduct. Members are reminded of the need to repeat their declaration immediately prior to the commencement of the item in question.

Declarations of interest were made by Councillors in the Minutes as indicated below:

Maynard          Agenda Item 4 – Personal Interest as Executive Member of East Sussex County Council.

Members received a presentation by the Chief Executive Officer of Freedom Leisure (FL), outlining the reasons for and the events leading up to the temporary closure of Rye Swimming Pool.  FL had been operating the leisure centre service for Rother District Council (RDC) since 2006 and had two managing contracts – Bexhill Leisure Centre and Bexhill Leisure Pool until 31 March 2024 and Rye Leisure Centre until 31 March 2026.

FL had experienced dramatic increases to their energy costs, which they had first advised all their clients of in autumn 2021.  They were currently in receipt of the Government’s Energy Bill Relief Scheme until 31 March 2023, at which point the Government would conduct a review of the protection for ‘vulnerable’ sectors.  In addition, membership of the facilities had only recovered to 80-85% of the pre-COVID-19 levels, inflation was at its highest for 40 years, impacting staff and other costs and the cost of living crisis was impacting consumer behaviour.

Members were presented with a timeline of the events and discussions that had taken place, ultimately leading to the temporary closure of the swimming pool, together with details of the financial impact and other measures and mitigations that had been taken by FL to offset the additional utility costs and financial pressures.

Members were given the opportunity to ask questions and the following points were noted during the discussions:

•           under the current circumstances, FL would not look to extend their contract in Rye beyond March 2026, as the site was not viable;

•           solar photovoltaic (PV) panels might reduce utility bills by 20%, but would take four to five years to pay for themselves;

•           opening hours were reduced initially after the COVID-19 pandemic, but were subsequently reviewed and reverted back;

•           Rye Leisure Centre served a large catchment area;

•           there was little wet facility competition in the district due to its viability;

•           £90k had been requested from RDC in order to keep the swimming pool open, which was not possible without RDC making further savings;

•           nine primary schools had been using the swimming pool;

•           an initial study had been undertaken by RDC  with Energise Sussex Coast to consider the installation of solar PV panels at Rye Leisure Centre, but no application had been made to the Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) Panel yet, as the scheme was still in the feasibility study phase;

•           RDC had been working with Rye Town Council (RTC) and FL to explore options to be able to reopen the pool and to look at how the current operating model could be changed in order for it to be viable;

•           the two sites in Bexhill previously made a surplus which had been used to underwrite the site in Rye;

•           various schemes had been introduced to encourage increased membership, such as GP health referral schemes, increased scope of youth membership and an over 65 membership, different pricing options and revamped catering facilities;

•           the RDC representative on the East Sussex  ...  view the full minutes text for item OSC22/41.