Forres House Community Centre in Moray could face closure says report
A community centre could be closed as part of “necessary” changes to sport and leisure services, according to new analysis of a report.
Forres House Community Centre has been repeatedly singled out in a consultant-penned review for its poor financial performance, growing deficit and the apparently-limited impact its closure would have.
The Moray Sports and Leisure Review, presented at a full meeting of Moray Council, also contains proposals which indicate that more than half of the area’s indoor sites could close.
While Moray Council is yet to agree a plan for which facilities should be closed, six options for “hub” models of are put forward in the report.
Half of these options would leave just three of seven facilities open, while the other half would see all but four sites closed.
At the meeting, councillors unanimously agreed to adopt draft criteria that will “give direction” to the process of selecting targets for “rationalisation”.
A closed-doors workshop for councillors will also be held, to help them draw up a draft plan.
They also agreed to adopt a host of service charges for using Moray’s sport and leisure facilities, raising the level of income by around £150,000.
Depute chief executive Denise Whitworth, introducing the report, said there was a “critical need to look at our revenue budget”.
Drawn up by Integratis Consulting and Alliance Leisure, the Moray Sports and Leisure Review described the current scale of facilities as “unsustainable in this current financial climate”.
It adds that, in coming years, maintaining sites will require £27 million of capital spending, with only £7.8 million available.
Making changes to council facilities, which would include closures, is a “necessary option to address unsustainable deficits” according to the report.
We have analysed the new review, and why Forres House Community Centre appears to be the most at-risk facility in Moray.
Which facilities could be closed?
The draft criteria, which could determine whether sites face closure, puts 70 per cent of the weight on just three measurements.
The condition of facilities and capital required for repairs is worth 35 per cent, while usage statistics count for 20 per cent, and impact of closure on accessibility is worth 15 per cent.
Income generation, expenditure, the number of Fit Life memberships, social value created, and the scale of energy costs are worth five per cent each.
Population growth is worth three per cent, while unmet demand for sport and leisure services is worth two per cent.
Three closure scenarios are laid out in the report and are described as “examples of what could be considered, rather than formal recommendations”.
Of the three options mentioned, two include shutting Forres House Community Centre.
Closing the centre would result in “immediate savings of £186,603”, based on the performance in the year up to April 2024.
Further information about the centre, revealed in the report, sheds more light on why it may be on the chopping block.
Forres House Community Centre - frontrunner for closure?
In the closure criteria, the capital required for required repairs makes up 35 per cent of the weighting.
Forres House Community Centre needs £422,611.80 of repairs over the next three years.
The building - assessed for the review in 2022 - contains a sports hall, community centre facilities, a library, a cafe and multipurpose rooms for community services.
Last year, the centre celebrated its 50th birthday with a packed week of activities.
It is also understood that a change in policy means that maintenance and repairs at the community centre are not being carried out.
The report confirms that, without repairs to wooden floors, water heaters, boilers and electrical systems, the centre will not be able to continue operating.
The cash required is less than Buckie Swimming Pool and Fitness Centre (£661,560.51), Keith Sports and Community Centre (£677,401.54) and Moray Leisure Centre (£7.63 million).
However, by comparison, Speyside Community Centre is more than £100,000 cheaper in the time period (£321,393) and Forres Swimming Pool and Fitness Centre (£73,005) needs less than a fifth of the cash required for the community centre works.
This places the community centre as having the third-cheapest repair bill out of the six facilities - slightly above average.
The next-biggest element of the weighting is the usage of each facility, standing for 20 per cent.
Forres House Community Centre makes up 2.7 per cent of Moray’s total usage of sports and leisure facilities - the second-lowest of any indoor facility.
This is compared to Moray Leisure Centre (47.63 per cent), Buckie Swimming Pool and Fitness Centre (9.73 per cent), Forres Swimming Pool and Fitness Centre (9.4 per cent), Keith Sports and Community Centre (8.39 per cent) and Lossiemouth Sports and Community Centre (5.67 per cent).
Only the Speyside Sports and Community Centre (2.63 por cent) saw a lower share of usage.
Accessibility impacts make up 15 per cent of the weighting that will determine what will close.
The report appears to break facilities down into two groups, ones where closure will seriously impact accessibility, and ones with limited impact.
Closing Moray Leisure Centre, Forres Swimming Pool and Fitness Centre, Keith Sports and Community Centre, Buckie Swimming Pool and Fitness Centre, or Speyside Sports and Community Centre, would all have a significant impact.
However, information from the report suggests that closing Forres House Community Centre or Lossiemouth Sports and Community Centre would have far less impact.
The review identifies sports hall availability as the only potential impact of closing the Forres centre.
“There is no impact on sports hall accessibility with the closure of Forres House Community Centre, as all wards maintain 100 per cent access to sports halls, showing that the facility does not significantly affect access to this type of amenity,” it adds.
As a result, Forres House Community Centre would be likely to perform poorly against this criteria.
Taken together, income generation, expenditure, number of Fit Life memberships and the “social value” make up 20 per cent of the total.
The report states that Forres House Community Centre has the second-highest deficit per opening hour of any Moray facility - at £47.
Moray Leisure Centre, which has more than 10 times the number of users, was the only site with a bigger hourly deficit.
The report also states that the facility has experienced “significant and worsening financial performance”.
The report adds: “Venues like Forres House Community Centre, which have lower usage rates, may have a more manageable impact if closed, as some activities could potentially migrate to nearby venues, such as high schools or community halls.”
In total, the centre could be expected to perform around average in terms of capital budget required for repairs (35 per cent), poorly in terms of usage numbers (20 per cent), poorly in terms of accessibility impacts (15 per cent), poors in terms of income generation, expenditure, number of Fit Life memberships and social value (20 per cent).
As a result, Forres House Community Centre is likely to perform poorly compared to criteria worth more than half of the total weighting.
Similar information was not available for the remaining five per cent of the criteria.
In addition, none of the six proposed hub options appear to be good news for the community centre.
The Forres Swimming Pool and Fitness Centre outperforms the community centre across all criteria and, with all six options apparently indicating one leisure facility per town, there appears to be no space for the community centre.
During last week’s meeting, addressing the coming workshops where proposals will be worked out, Councillor Marc Macrae (Fochabers Lhanbryde) said there were difficult choices ahead.
“I hope that all elected members will take part in this because it's a very important time for this to try and shape the service of sport and leisure moving forwards across Moray,” Cllr Macrae said.
“Nobody, I think likes, increasing costs but not increasing service provision.
“But things have to wash their face in this day and age, sadly.”