Published: November 6, 2008
Highbridge sports centre could soon be run by new charitable trust

Highbridge's King Alfred Sports Centre could soon be run by a new non profit-making leisure trust under proposals unveiled by Somerset County Council on Wednesday (November 5th).

The establishment of the new trust was confirmed by Somerset County Council’s Executive Board on Wednesday (November 5th) as part of a cost-cutting exercise.

It says the trust, which will be known as 'Somerset Leisure Ltd', will allow leisure services to be managed in a more flexible and competitive way. The company will seek charitable status from the Charity Commission, which will make it eligible for £200,000 of new investment money each year because of savings on VAT and rate relief.

The money saved will be ploughed back into the provision of improved leisure services for the local community across a wide range of activities.

Consultations are ongoing with twelve Somerset schools, including King Alfred School, which have expressed an interest in Somerset Leisure Ltd running their school or community leisure facilities.

Somerset County Council’s Senior Leisure Manager, Tim Nightingale, who is leading the changeover to Trust status, told Burnham-On-Sea.com: "The setting up of Somerset Leisure Ltd marks a great step forward in the process towards becoming a Trust. The new Trust will provide a great opportunity to deliver services on a more flexible and competitive basis so that we can enhance and maintain the award winning sport and leisure programmes for local communities across Somerset."

Existing Somerset County Council Leisure Services staff will start to be transferred to the new company from November 2008. A further 430 County Council staff will transfer to the Trust by the end of March 2009.