Commenting on the government’s new £100 million fund to help leisure centres recover from the impact of COVID-19, Cllr Gerald Vernon Jackson, Chair of the Local Government Association’s Culture, Tourism and Sport Board said:
“Councils play a critical role in delivering sport and fitness activities and maintaining the UK’s leisure infrastructure. Leisure centres across the country have faced severe financial pressures due to the impact of COVID-19 restrictions and so it is good that they have been allocated additional funding to meet these challenges and reopen safely.
“For those leisure centres that can reopen, we estimate that it will take at least 18 months before membership levels return to 80 per cent of pre-COVID levels. This means they will need additional long term funding to see them through this challenging time and ensure that they can survive so people can continue to use them to keep fit and stay active.”
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