COUNCIL-run leisure centres in South Lakeland face a radical shake-up in a bid to firm up their flagging finances and improve services to the public, reports Beth Broomby.

Leisure centres in Kendal and Ulverston, along with the Windermere Outdoor Adventure Centre, are starting to feel the strain of spiralling costs and tough budget choices being made by South Lakeland District Council.

So, in a bid to get them into shape, SLDC officers are considering whether the three centres should become charitable trusts with freed up funds and outside money being ploughed into providing better sporting facilities.

SLDC would retain ownership of the leisure buildings and facilities but their day-to-day management would be taken out of its hands.

Another option being weighed up is whether a private sector company should take over the running of the centres, delivering services on the council's behalf.

Jim Walker, head of culture and tourism services at SLDC, said that, if the changes were given the go-ahead, which would not happen until residents had been consulted, there could be major financial benefits.

He said that unlike council-run services, organisations with charitable trust status are exempt from business rates and are eligible to apply for heritage and lottery funding.

The proposals have been put forward as part of SLDC's Best Value Performance Plan which, over the next five years, aims to assess all council services for cost efficiency and service quality.

At present SLDC funds Kendal Leisure Centre at £ 506,000, Ulverston Leisure Centre at £368,000 and Windermere Outdoor Leisure at £47,000 annually.

But Mr Walker stressed that nothing would be decided until a full consultation process had been completed in the autumn of 2002.

"After consulting with users, residents and non-users we will take a good long look at the ways we do things and the way in which we might improve them," he said.

He added that rising costs, which he attributed to "health and safety and staffing," were making it increasingly difficult to fund and improve sports and recreation services.

But he denied that the take up of services at local leisure centres was an issue.

Mr Walker admitted the council's budget shortfall, predicted at £587,000 for 2001-02, was an added financial pressure.

"The council has been struggling to develop a balanced budget, and leisure is taking its place around the table, fighting for resources alongside other services.

We are taking a proactive approach, we are not willing to sit back and watch services decline when faced with no increase in budgets and normal increases in costs," he said.

Chairman of the leisure and amenities committee Coun Phil Lister said the council planned to look at examples of other trust-run leisure centres around country.

"We owe it to the public to look at how best to use their funds, but nothing has been decided yet," he said.

Kendal Leisure Centre, first opened in 1982, was followed by Windermere Outdoor Adventure in 1989 and, in 1999, the 25-year-old Ulverston Leisure Centre underwent a £286,000 refurbishment programme.

All three facilities are subsidised by SLDC at a rate which is fixed by the annual council budget.

Although the majority of repayments have been made on the initial cost of building the three centres, the cost of improvements rolled out over the last ten years is still being met.

David Ronald, manager of the flagship Ulverston Leisure Centre, on Priory Road, said that, in the past, leisure facilities nationwide had suffered from a lack of funding, and he welcomed the possibility of change.

He said: "Everything has a shelf-life, for example our pitch is three years out of date.

Hopefully, if the Kendal, Ulverston and Windermere centres were given trust status, we could free up some money to invest in amenities.

We are looking at this in a very positive light."