Mid and east Antrim: Bank holiday leisure opening U-turn sought as council considers review of hours
A review of leisure centre opening hours is being considered by Mid and East Antrim Borough Council as councillors seek a U-turn on bank holiday closures.
Speaking at last week’s council meeting, Larne Lough Alliance Councillor Maeve Donnelly proposed a motion for doors to be opened during holidays.
Cllr Donnelly said: “Bank holidays, surely, are the most popular days to take your family out because most people are off and you want to avail of that time to use the leisure facilities that are on offer.”
She went on to say she has been contacted by constituents who have voiced frustration about leisure facilities being closed during a recent bank holiday.
“Bank holidays are prime leisure time and there are now multiple gyms open 24 hours a day in our area and as a constituent recently said to me, he left the council leisure centre and ended up paying membership for a private gym as he needed to know when they were open exactly for his routine and mental health.
“I feel this is a common sense motion and I am delighted to see real support for this from other parties on social media recently. I am simply asking officers to bring a report back to council with options for delivering a leisure facilities offering in MEA during bank holidays.”
Seconding the motion, party colleague Larne Lough Alderman Robert Logan said: “It is astonishing to me that we close leisure facilities on days when people are off. If we were running a proper business, we wouldn’t consider doing that.”
Braid UU Cllr Alan Barr stated: “For many families, particularly those with young children. bank holidays are an excellent opportunity to spend quality time together and make use of local facilities.“Given the inclement weather associated with some of our bank holidays, getting outside and enjoying the great outdoors is not always possible. Therefore, it is good to have the leisure centres as an alternative. “However, as elected representatives, we also have a duty to ensure that any expansion of services is properly costed, sustainable and deliverable.”
Cllr Barr asked for a full financial impact assessment and full detailed examination of resource and staffing implications before any final decision.
“I also believe this is a good opportunity to review the opening and closing times across all leisure centres within Mid and East Antrim. I am aware of different opening times of leisure centres within the borough and therefore a review is important because fairness and consistency matter. “Residents in every part of our borough whether in Ballymena, Carrickfergus, Larne or rural communities should expect equal consideration and a broadly consistent standard of provision.
He stated any decision taken by the council must be “balanced, financially responsible, fair to staff and equitable across the entire borough”.
Carrickfergus Castle TUV Cllr David Clarke queried the rate of pay for staff on a bank holiday and emphasised the need to take into consideration demand, resources and cost implications as well as meeting the needs of the community. “There are people in our borough who are going to other nearby boroughs and leisure centres and they are putting their money into those when they could be on their doorstep,” he commented.
Knockagh DUP Cllr Marc Collins stated: “Plenty of other councils across Northern Ireland can open on a bank holiday. I don’t see why we can’t follow suit.” He urged alignment of opening hours in the borough.
Knockagh Alliance Cllr Aaron Skinner commented: “We should make council services available to the public when they want it rather than us telling them when they should have it. “I also agree to looking at the opening hours. I do think sometimes it is important as well, while we are one borough and everything should be the same, there are certain things where there is demand.”
Cllr Donnelly said she would accept the amendment.
A director highlighted the need for a wider “modernisation and transformation” of the council’s leisure service by examining the cost, which he described, as “quite heavy” , driving income into the centres and at the core, he added, will be a review of the council’s operating model.
Carrickfergus Castle DUP Ald Billy Ashe MBE said: “Some of us have argued against some of these cuts that were brought by officers before and I believe that the elected representatives have many years of experience of using the leisure facilities and hearing first-hand from many customers and that needs to be fed in as well, something that I don’t think was fed in last time round.”
Interim chief executive Valerie Watts said: “There was a comment made – ‘if we were running this as a business’. If we were running this as a business, we wouldn’t be throwing £3m at it to keep it open. “Let me remind members that you agreed to £0.5m worth of cuts to leisure to keep the rate down at 2.95 per cent, so every decision that is taken on the back of reports that we will be bringing forward, you are talking up your bill for the rates next year.”
Carrickfergus Castle Alliance Cllr Lauren Gray commented: “While finances are important and they absolutely should be considered and rightly so, it can’t just be all about that.”
Cllr Collins added: “I would push back slightly on the £500k comment because if my memory of the rate-setting process is right, that was brought forward as identified savings of essentially waste and the point was made strongly that there was to be no effect on frontline services and leisure.
Asked to clarify his ‘”waste” comment, Cllr Collins said: “Efficiencies, unnecessary expenditure.”
Mayor Bannside UU Cllr Jackson Minford said he would ask officers to carry out the relevant equality and financial assessments and bring a report back to a future council meeting for a final decision.