At Thursday’s meeting of Council Elected Members will consider a request for £80,000 of additional funding to sustain Jedburgh Leisure Facilities Trust, which is at immediate risk of closure.
The opening hours at the town’s Laidlaw Memorial Pool have already been reduced and further reductions in opening hours and staff redundancies would be required to keep the facility open even if the funding is agreed, as the current operating model is not financially sustainable.
There is also a risk that even more funding may be required before the end of the financial year and of budget shortfalls in future financial years. Reduced hours would likely be needed over a long period of time.
Financial challenges
We have been engaging with Jedburgh Leisure Facilities Trust regarding the financial sustainability of the trust. The financial challenges being experienced are due to reduced income and increased energy and staff costs since the Covid-19 pandemic, a situation reflected across sport and leisure trusts nationally. Governance issues have also impacted on the trust and operation of the facility.
Extra funding
We provided Jedburgh Leisure Facilities Trust with £127,000 in January 2023 to enable energy efficiency measures to be implemented to help manage energy costs and the trust receives annual funding of £115,000 from us to provide services from the Laidlaw Memorial Pool facility, which we own.
This funding is normally split as quarterly payments, however to provide immediate cashflow support a number of the payments this year were advanced, and in fact the final payment was made in August this year.
An additional £10,000 for the trust, in recognition of the challenges being faced by the sector, was agreed as part of the 2024/25 budget and has also been paid.
At the Full Council meeting in August it was agreed £40,000 of emergency funding from reserves would also be provided to the trust as an interim measure to enable the trust to develop a business plan and engage further with us and with South of Scotland Enterprise in an attempt to make changes to move the trust and operating model on to a sustainable footing.
Service and facility options appraisal
Part of our ongoing joint work with Live Borders involves considering the delivery of sustainable services and facilities, supported by the analysis of property condition surveys and other key facility and service data. As agreed at Full Council in August, the Jedburgh facility is also being considered as part of this workstream, which is due to be completed in March 2025.
As this work progresses there will be engagement with communities and other stakeholders, building upon the significant volume of feedback gathered from public and stakeholders as part of the Joint Review of sport, leisure and cultural services and facilities last year.
If the funding is not agreed and the trust becomes insolvent the Laidlaw Memorial Pool premises would be handed back to us and it is proposed it would be mothballed until such time as the services and facilities options appraisal work is completed.
Due to the operating environment, including significantly increased costs and reduced public funds, it is unfortunately very likely that changes to services and where they are delivered from will be required.
Our own financial challenges
As presented to the Executive Committee earlier this month, we are currently experiencing significant financial challenges, with a reported £4m shortfall in funding and multiple financial risks highlighted in the current financial year.
Significant management action and re-prioritisation of budgets is required during the remainder of this financial year with the aim of ensuring we can balance our budget by the end of March.
More information
The urgent report to Full Council on 28 November 2024 can be found on our website.