Current progress
Latest update - April 2025
The Joint Transformational Change Programme established following the joint review continues to be delivered. This is critical to ensuring the financial sustainability of sport, leisure and cultural services and facilities.
The status quo is not an option, ie continuing with the current scale and scope of service delivery, especially in the context of an ageing and energy inefficient sporting and cultural property estate.
Properties and service delivery
An independent report on Live Borders’ sport, leisure and cultural services and associated Council-owned properties was published on 20 April 2025 ahead of a discussion at Full Council on 24 April.
We will not be making any decisions regarding service or property changes at this time, recognising that there is much to consider and further work is required. Community and stakeholder consultation is also essential prior to any recommendations being made for Full Council to consider.
The report follows a review by independent consultants Integratis, who have extensive experience working with local authorities and sport and culture trusts. They were tasked by Live Borders and ourselves with taking an objective approach to identifying options which will help Live Borders deliver accessible, relevant and cost-effective services from a sustainable property estate.
Operational changes
There are a number of operational changes and steps that will be progressed by Live Borders and us.
These are:
- Recruitment of a permanent Chief Executive Officer - which is already underway - and a senior leadership team to lead and implement the transformation within Live Borders
- Begin workforce alignment and aligning staffing numbers to demand levels
- Progress shared back office services
- Consider revised pricing models for leisure memberships and cultural venues
Property and service delivery options
Detailed in the following pages are the property change proposals put forward by the independent consultants following their review. Please note that in some instances they have identified multiple options for services/facilities which need to be read independently and not in conjunction with other proposals in that location.
In preparing for community and stakeholder engagement initial issues and considerations arising from the consultant’s property-related proposals have been captured by officers. These are not intended to be a complete or comprehensive list of issues and considerations, and through engagement with communities and stakeholders we anticipate many further options, considerations and issues will be raised.
The robust engagement and consultation over the coming months will help develop and shape final property and service recommendations, which are expected to be brought to Full Council for decisions in autumn.
During that timeframe we will also be developing detailed business cases for property investments and redevelopments, including the opportunities identified by the consultants.
Board recruitment
A new chair and trustees for the board of Live Borders have been recruited and joined the board in March 2025.
The new chair is Bill Douglas.
More information on the board members can be found on the Live Borders website.