Places for People Leisure Management has won a 30-year contract from Test Valley Borough Council to operate its sports facilities across the Test Valley, with the transfer of 300 staff from Valley Leisure.
As part of the terms of the new contract, which is set to start on 1 April 2017, significant investment is planned to improve the borough’s leisure facilities. This investment will help to provide a brand new Andover Leisure Centre, on the current site, and a number of improvements to the other leisure centres including the Romsey Rapids, Romsey Sports Centre, Knightwood Leisure Centre and Charlton Lakeside Pavilion.
The new Andover Leisure Centre (pictured) will feature a 165-station fitness suite including a virtual cycling studio, 25m six lane pool with 15m learner pool, dance studios, eight court sports hall, squash courts, adventure play, and cafe. The impressive new centre will also offer a splash pad and Clip and Climb to encourage more young people to adopt healthy habits for life.
Enhancements to the existing leisure centres will soon be underway with extensive refurbishment work planned including a new state of the art fitness suite at Romsey Rapids and Knightwood Leisure Centre.
Places for People Leisure currently partners 35 local authorities, managing 112 leisure centres across England. Its sites attract over 30 million visits every year and in the past ten years the award winning organisation has built 14 new leisure facilities.
Community and Leisure Portfolio Holder, Councillor Tony Ward, said, “I am absolutely delighted that Places for People has been awarded the new contract to continue to deliver top class leisure facilities in the borough. The process to award the contract has taken the best part of 18 months and has involved a huge amount of work to get the best possible outcome for our residents.
'I am looking forward to working with the Places for People team over the coming years and ensuring that we continue to deliver the high quality leisure facilities that our residents deserve and expect.”
Sandra Dodd, Chief Executive at Places for People Leisure, added, “We are extremely pleased to have been awarded the contract and are looking forward to working closely alongside Test Valley Borough Council to ensure we offer a leisure service that meets and exceeds community needs and aspirations.
'Our mission at Places for People Leisure is to ‘create active places and healthy people’ and we are excited to be able to offer a range of leisure activities and opportunities for all members of the local community to adopt more active lifestyles.”