Knowsley Council has broken a weeks-long silence over a £26k review into the future of the borough’s leisure services.
The ECHO has been trying to find out the outcome of the review from the local authority for several weeks, with multiple requests for comment being met with silence. The council has now responded with information about the review into the future of the borough’s leisure provision, which has been managed by wholly-owned council company Volair Ltd since 2015.
The company was set up to save the council £2m a year in its leisure provision – although has continued to cost public money since being set up.
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In 2021, the council was forced to bail out the service to the tune of £2m after closures and the pandemic were blamed for a significant drop in revenue.
In November of that year, a delegated decision report was published revealing Knowsley Council was contracting a third-party company to carry out a review into the borough’s leisure provision and future options for services.
The contract for the review was awarded to Strategic Leisure Ltd, with the decision report noting this was expected to take three months, before the company would report back to the council.
Over a year later, no information has been made public about this review or any outcomes or recommendations about the future of the borough’s leisure provision.
It was announced by Knowsley Council in its budget documents that Volair Ltd has once again received a bailout from the council.
Nearly £1.5m has been provided, with much of that coming from a public health grant in order to stop the company – which runs a series of leisure and sports centres across the borough – from going bust.
The report noted “inflation” and other pressures that have left Volair Ltd in financial difficulty with ongoing council support looking likely to allow it to continue operating.
Kevin Schofield, Volair chief executive and former council officer, also announced his resignation at the end of last year, with adverts placed on the Knowsley Council website for a replacement for his £85k a year job. While applications are currently closed, Mr Schofield’s replacement has yet to be announced.
The annual accounts for Volair, which are usually filed with Companies House in December, have not yet been filed and Knowsley Council has declined to respond to requests for information about the delay, stating the company, which is wholly owned and controlled by the council, is “independent.”
When asked about the whereabouts of the Strategic Leisure Ltd review, whether it had reported back to Knowsley Council or been put in front of councillors, the borough council initially did not respond to two requests for information.
After a third request, the council has now broken its silence.
A spokesperson said the review has now been carried out and a report from Strategic Leisure Ltd had been provided to the council.
When asked about the contents and whether the report had been presented to councillors, the spokesperson added that “this piece of work is ongoing and will be presented to council later in the year.”
The spokesperson said the report would not be made public at this stage, stating: “It is the intention of the council to publish the Strategic Leisure report as part of a wider report to councillors later in the year.”
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