Kentish Town Sports Centre [Julian Walker] 

UNION leaders have urged the Town Hall to radically reassess how they run leisure centres, warning that an “obsession with outsourcing” must end when the pandemic is finally under control.

Unite, which represents staff employed at popular facilities like the Prince of Wales Baths, Swiss Cottage Leisure Centre and the Oasis, say operators Greenwich Leisure (GLL) – also known in Camden as Better – have laid off hundreds of people and are looking to councils to make up ever growing deficits.

With centres closed, GLL chief executive Mark Sesnan said that the company had gone from being “a relatively strong financial business to one that now does rely on support for local authorities”, adding: “The biggest issue is that some councils are very cash-strapped themselves and have more pressing priorities.”

The company, which was handed a new leisure contract for Camden months before Covid hit, say they face huge costs to maintain equipment and swimming pools – and lost their biggest annual income boost this month when people could not turn to leisure centres to fulfil New Year resolutions to get fit. Currently, a skeleton staff is looking after swimming pools, providing security and answering members’ queries.

Camden have confirmed they were being “flexible” to allow GLL time to pay funds owed, but Unite said local authorities should take back the service in-house.

In Camden, scores of long-term staff working on zero-hours contacts have been told no new work will be offered and they are now technically unemployed.

Unite regional officer Onay Kasab said: “Instead of GLL hawking the begging bowl around cash-strapped councils, asking them to prop up its flawed business model, council bosses should take back control of their leisure centres. Such a move makes sound economic sense as you don’t have to factor in the ‘profits’ for GLL. You would also increase employment security for the 10,500 staff that GLL currently has on furlough on 80 per cent wages.”

He added: “We believe that once the lockdown restrictions are eased, the public using GLL swimming pools, gyms and leisure centres would be better served if they were run by local authorities directly accountable to their electorate. This was the tried and tested way before this obsession with outsourcing began.”

GLL says it is not structured like many companies and is a “not for profit social enterprise”.

A Town Hall spokesman said the majority of staff were on furlough, adding: “We intend to reopen centres at the earliest opportunity subject to easing of government restrictions, as we did following previous lockdowns.”

While the Town Hall has not yet offered any direct financial support to the company, it said it had given GLL more time to pay what is owed under the terms of its contract. The spokesman added: “We are considering all potential delivery models for managing our leisure centres in the future.”

A spokesperson for GLL said: “GLL is working for a number of local authorities, including Camden Council, to operate community leisure facilities, whilst protecting as many flexible hours and permanent jobs as possible. We’ll continue to lobby for a more comprehensive government support package for public services and jobs within the leisure sector. We see our not-for-profit social enterprise model playing a crucial part in the nation’s recovery.”