Northumberland's publicly owned leisure facilities delivered an unexpected profit of £743,000 last year, despite forecasts of a £115,000 loss. The service, run by not-for-profit company Places for People Leisure, benefited from increased memberships.
Profit and reinvestment
The surplus will be reinvested into improving services and shared with the county council as part of the contract arrangements between the two organisations.
Speaking at Monday's meeting of the council's communities and place scrutiny committee, area manager for Places Leisure Simon Churchman described the county's leisure centres as 'best in class'.
Membership growth and investment
Mr Churchman said: "We saw an 8% growth in membership, which goes to show that where there is fantastic facilities, where there's good investment and where there are teams that are really passionate, we can really make a difference. The great thing about membership is if you take out a membership, you're more likely to commit to activity over a long period of time."
"For us, driving membership to drive activity is really important. When I first came to Northumberland I was blown away by the facilities and at the range of activities going on."
"Having worked on a number of contracts up and down the country, they're not as successful as Northumberland - the company will take this best practice to the rest of the organisation because it's really a stand-out programme."
Customer feedback and council support
The service also received positive feedback from users. Assistant contract manager Leanne Beattie said: "Customer feedback is absolutely critical for us. It gives us really valuable insight into how we're doing. There has been huge investment in Northumberland County Council in facilities - that in one of the key drivers and I think it's really important that it continues."
The council has invested heavily in leisure services in recent years. State-of-the-art leisure centres have been built in Ponteland, Berwick and Morpeth while improvements have been made at older sites such as Prudhoe Water World.
Cabinet member for leisure Coun Wendy Pattison said: "I think we all know just how important leisure is to all of us. We do have to keep active, it's incredibly important for our wellbeing."
"Numbers are up in the service - it's a very positive outlook."
Council leader Glen Sanderson added: "This is a great partnership that is working really well. It's rare to get such a good leisure offer in a county council - and we have free parking at leisure centres."
