Public libraries and leisure centres provide a place to meet, work, learn and support physical and mental health. The impact when these services are withdrawn can be significant, and according to Community Leisure UK, poses a “real threat to the health and well-being of our communities”.
For more than a decade, councils have found it increasingly difficult to sustain their local leisure and library services. In an effort to protect and fund core local services such as social care and schools, other discretionary services, such as culture, leisure and heritage, have been “squeezed relatively harder when money is short”. Data recently published by CIPFA, shows a continuing pattern of falling spend on public libraries across Britain, stating that “this continues year-on-year declines in expenditure since 2018/19”.
Councils have explored different ways to deliver services, but with the current pressure on council budgets, what does the future hold for our leisure centres and libraries? The Senedd’s Local Government and Housing Committee is currently considering this question. In this article we take a brief look at some of the approaches being taken by councils and the issues they face.
Are councils required to provide leisure and library services?
Yes and no… The Public Libraries and Museums Act 1964, places legal duties on councils to “provide a comprehensive and efficient library service”. It also requires councils to ensure adequate stock and availability of books, and encourage “full use of the library service”. However, the Act doesn’t define what a “comprehensive and efficient library service” is, leaving some scope for interpretation by councils.
Andrew Green, former Librarian at the National Library of Wales has been critical of the current legislative framework. In 2019 he stated that some councils “don’t seem to think that providing a public library service is a statutory obligation”, and described the Act as “toothless”. Evidence heard by the Committee so far suggests that some strengthening of the legislative framework may be required.
Similar duties on councils to provide public leisure services do not exist, which are provided instead on a discretionary basis. Evidence heard by the Committee suggested that there was merit to looking at legislating, placing a duty on national and local governments to publish a health and leisure strategy. Nevertheless, Community Leisure UK questioned the purpose of legislating for public leisure, stating “as we can see with library services, it [the 1964 Act] doesn’t protect them from closures”.
UNISON Cymru was clear on what it thought the priority should be, saying “if councils had sufficient funding… we wouldn't be necessarily looking to see whether we need to legislate to bring councils into order around this”.
Who runs leisure and library services?
Half of all councils in Wales have outsourced the management of their leisure services, and in some areas, their library provision, to a 'trust’.
Leisure or cultural trusts operate local facilities on a not-for-profit basis, re-investing money generated into the services and facilities they manage. Trusts will take on management of facilities based on a service contract, with the council paying an annual management fee. Recent evidence suggests that the management fees for trusts have remained flat, or reduced in recent years.
As charities or charitable societies, trusts benefit from access to charitable and grant funding, along with social investment. They also benefit from non-domestic rates relief, and may not pay any business rates on the facilities they manage.
Gwynedd and Denbighshire councils have established local authority trading companies (LATC) to run their leisure provision. LATCs operate as commercial companies, but remain wholly owned and controlled by the council. LATCs benefit from greater flexibility and autonomy compared to services managed ‘in-house’, but don’t have the benefit of charity status. Depending on the contract, an LATC may be able to re-invest surpluses back into delivering services, or it could be required to return any surplus back to the council.
Eight councils in Wales continue to run their own leisure and library services ‘in-house’. That number will soon increase as Neath Port Talbot County Borough Council is bringing its leisure services back into council control. Leisure services in the county had been managed by a leisure trust since 2003.
While trusts are a significant feature within the leisure sector in Wales, the shift to outsourcing council library and cultural facilities has not moved at a similar pace. Instead, councils have generally favoured retaining management of libraries. However, data collated by the Welsh Government for a Freedom of Information request in April 2022 showed that the number of open public libraries has fallen since the early 2000s. The data is incomplete however, and doesn’t include community libraries that are not supported by councils.
“Once displaced, they’re very rarely returned to communities”
Awen Cultural Trust described the importance of leisure and library services in evidence to the Local Government and Housing Committee. The Trust said losing local facilities has a “detrimental impact, not just on individual users, but on the vast array of user groups” in the community.
Earlier this year it was reported that up to 150 swimming pools in Wales were at risk of closure due to energy costs, raising the prospect of closures in some areas. The WLGA wrote to the Chancellor of the Exchequer in January 2023 seeking clarity around the UK Government’s Energy Bills Discount Scheme for council services. It said that spiralling energy costs are placing community assets such as libraries, swimming pools and leisure centres in “huge peril”.
Aura Wales, which runs Flintshire Council’s leisure facilities, said in March that their energy bills grew by over £600,000 in the last year. Without local authority support with its energy costs, it suggested that it “couldn’t have survived”.
The UK Government recently announced a £63 million fund to support swimming pools in England, but it remains unclear whether Wales will receive any additional funding as a result.
A framework to support and promote library and leisure services
The provision of local leisure and library services is ultimately a matter for councils, but Welsh Ministers have had a role to oversee and promote the improvement of the public library service in Wales since the start of devolution. According to Awen Cultural Trust, the Welsh Government’s framework, ‘Connected and Ambitious Libraries’, has “helped protect libraries”, but the current strategy needs updating.
However, Andrew Green, former Librarian at National Library of Wales noted in 2019 that while the “Public library standards are helpful… they’ve not prevented service erosion”. This view was echoed by GLL Leisure Trust, who told the Local Government and Housing Committee that the library standards had “not prevented the erosion of funding from, say, book stocks across Wales”.
There is no equivalent duty on Welsh Ministers to have oversight and promote improvements in public leisure services at present, although the Welsh Government does have several strategies to encourage greater participation in sport and active recreation more generally.
The Local Government and Housing Committee will take further evidence from witnesses, including local government, before finally hearing from the Deputy Minister for Arts and Sport during this term. It’ll be looking at service provision, financial and operational challenges, alternative delivery models and good practice, among other things. From that, it might become clearer what actions are needed to sustain these services for future generations.
Article by Osian Bowyer, Senedd Research, Welsh Parliament
