Agenda item

To review the availability, cost and accessibility of swimming lessons provided by Hyndburn Leisure Trust.

Presented by Linda Horsfield

Lyndsey Sims, Chief Executive of Hyndburn Leisure Trust, gave a presentation on ‘Learn to Swim’. She referred to the issues of availability, cost and accessibility of swimming lessons provided by the Trust.

She referred to the following points:

·      Quality                          Lessons followed the ‘Swim England’s National Plan for Teaching Swimming’, it was led by qualified teachers (2 at Level 2 with Level 1 assistants).  Teachers were often in the water too.  A parent portal platform had been introduced to improve the experience of parents and children.

·      Membership                  Weekly programme of lessons across 3 swimming pools plus data collected to monitor use including places available per month, number of members, number of members who pay by direct debit, numbers attending the Bhaja Initiative and a waiting list of over 500.

·      Affordability                   Cost of a lesson in respect of group lessons, one-to-one lessons, crash course and free swimming outside of lessons.

·      Future Developments   Swimming lesson programme is set to grow further by the end of 2026, the recruitment and development of more swimming teachers, the Trust’s plan to introduce new pre-school swimming sessions, extend the learn to swim programme and the forthcoming addition of adult swimming lessons to the weekly timetable.  Water Wellbeing accreditation and broadening the swimming for health programme is being applied for.

Members submitted the following questions in advance of the meeting, summarised as follows:

·         Why are the Leisure Centres closed on bank holidays when more residents would potentially want to use them?

·         The HLT app cannot be used when booking preschool swimming lessons which may deter people from booking lessons.  Could this be reviewed?

·         Could the Trust’s policy for advertising swimming sessions be reviewed and improved?

·         Could data be provided on the numbers attending swimming sessions across the various centres?

·         Did the Trust meet its footfall targets for attendance at its Leisure Centres this year and, if not, are there plans to improve them?

·         Hyndburn has a diverse community, what plans are in place to ensure all communities are consulted on the provision of swimming sessions

·         Once the new Leisure Centres were up and running, what would waiting lists potentially look like?

·         Are there plans to work with transport providers to make it easier for people to access the Leisure Centres?  Currently, using public transport can mean catching more than one bus. 

·         There is a lack of healthy food served at Hyndburn Leisure Centre.  Could the food provision be reviewed to reflect a more healthy menu?

Responses were provided as follows:

·         Closure of Leisure Centres on bank holidays was being reviewed.  Currently contractual arrangements limited opening times.  Consideration was being given to the hours that could be operated.

·         Consideration was being given to adding further activities to the booking App with pre-school swimming being one of them.

·         The Trust was intending to run a young people activity marketing campaign in 2026 to increase awareness of swimming lessons as well as other activities on offer.  However, there is a long waiting list for swimming lessons which is cleansed and updated throughout the year.

·         Data was provided during the presentation of the meeting, details of which were set out previously.

·         The Trust did meet its footfall targets for attendance at its Leisure Centres.

·         The Trust does provide women only swimming sessions and work in partnership with the Bahja Initiative.

·         Working with transport providers was not currently in the plans of the Trust but it would be something that could be given further consideration.  She suggested that community groups may have greater influence on transport companies because they would be more likely to provide transport if there was greater interest in people using a service.

·         The 3 catering spaces that the Trust operates have varied customer bases and as a result have differing menus.  There is a core offer across all café areas, but it was recognized that good practice could be taken from the recently opened café at the Cath Thom Leisure Centre to the other sites to enhance their offer.

The Chair of the Committee thanked Lyndsey Sims for attending the meeting and her hard work in providing leisure and health and wellbeing activities in Hyndburn.

Resolved                               -   That the report be noted.