Sports centre funding in Wirral could face further cuts if numbers don’t return to pre-Covid levels.
More details of Wirral Council’s struggle to balance the books have been released as it deals with rising energy costs and inflation with the leisure department projected to go over budget by nearly £4m.
The council has seen rising energy costs adding a £1m bill to its overall budget as well as drops in income. Despite making at least £10m in savings this year, it’s projected to have a £49m gap in its budget next year based on a worst-case scenario.
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New figures show that the council’s tourism, leisure, and communities department has gone over budget by £3.9m based on the latest predictions. This is because of big drops in income for leisure centres and tourism as well as proposed pay increases for staff.
Sports centres and pitches have seen a drop in numbers since the pandemic with around 75% of that seen in 2019. This is contributing £1.7m to the council going over budget with £400,000 coming from rising energy costs alone.
One leisure centre, the Oval Sports Centre, has even gone over budget by nearly a million. While the council said trends were improving over the summer with visitors increasing, the figure of £3.9m reflects a worst case situation if numbers don’t improve.
The report warned that if footfall doesn’t look likely to recover to pre-pandemic levels, money spent on leisure facilities will have to be cut as part of next year’s budget.
A proposed pay increase for staff also added £600,000 to the budget and Wirral has also seen a big drop in tourism income with the council going over budget by £133,000.
The marine lake watersports centre and the concourse in West Kirby have also overspent by £47,000 and £190,000 each. This has been attributed to slow recovery from the pandemic as well as inflation increases but the town has also been badly affected by the construction of a flood defence.
The council has brought in measures to combat the rising costs and make savings. Of the savings proposed earlier this year, more than £1.4m have already been made.
£500,000 of the £3.5m savings proposed earlier this year aren’t expected and money will have to come from the council’s £3m contingency fund at the end of the year.
Price increases at Arrowe Park and the Warrens golf courses have brought in more income and closing two others in Hoylake and Brackenwood has also saved money. A decision on community bids for Brackenwood has been pushed back to January 25.
A catering stall at the Leasowe leisure centre is bringing £600 every weekend and the introduction of pool covers towards the end of this year is expected to reduce energy costs.
The process to transfer eight out of nine closed libraries into community hands has also brought on a cost to the council of £380,000. Only two have moved to the final stage of the process.
The council is still considering bids on the Woodchurch leisure centre. Demolition of Woodchurch has been postponed as a result costing the council £200,000 to maintain it.
This means the savings from demolition are now “unachievable” and a bid will have to be made for some of the council’s contingency fund.
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