Grave doubts about company that's to run Boston's leisure services

The old saying that history repeats itself sadly looks to be true as more emerges about the privatisation of Boston Borough Council's leisure services.
Councillor David Owens has stepped up to the plate to  publicly express the grave concerns he raised at last week's full council meeting.
"Unfortunately, this matter was not discussed in public, despite my motion to lift this restriction. Equally concerning and more disturbing was the BBI's flat rejection to allow debate of this matter.
"Perhaps it can be explained as the prior week's scrutiny meeting led to Councillor Dungworth walking out of a meeting in which he is portfolio holder, thereby delaying it for three days.
"This delay left little time to get answers ready for Monday's full council meeting where the final decision was to be made. The scrutiny meeting, attended largely by the opposition, was robust and raised a number of grave concerns relating to the appointment of the preferred bidder. A number of questions were raised and answers to these were produced at the full council.
"Under these circumstances, myself and members of the opposition felt it prudent not to appoint a contract whilst there were so many questionable aspects surrounding the preferred bidder, the full detail that could only be realised by those who bothered to attend the meeting and read up on the reports and supporting information.
"I wish to make quite clear that I am very keen to see the training pool opened at once, however this contract does not allow for that.
"I wish to see good value for money and a service we can be proud of. However initial investigations point to a very disappointing history from the preferred bidder (see Meres Leisure Centre, Grantham,) and the BBI seem content to make do with what we can get!!
"These arrangements land the council with the liability of maintaining the Princess Royal Sports Arena, and have allowed the Boston Sports Initiative to write off over £3m of debt to the council. The tax payer has nothing to show for it…….scandalous.
"These arrangements by their very nature, make the ability of you, the taxpayer, to complain to me, the elected member, in order to resolve issues that a private company are directly responsible for even more difficult than at present.
"I am not convinced that there is enough power within the contract to manage robustly any shortfalls in service and standards in the event that the preferred bidder fails to deliver what the taxpayer desires.
"And finally I question - has the BBI with its voting majority delivered to the borough another DABSI* mess.
"I hope not but I am not at all convinced. "
Following Councillor Owens's steer, we looked in more detail at the Meres Leisure Centre in Grantham. It is owned by South Kesteven District Council and run on its behalf - along with the Bourne, Stamford and Deeping centres - by Leisure Connection, which calls itself "the market leader of outsourced quality leisure, cultural and fitness services to local authorities" ( but then, don't they all!)
However, local people see Leisure Connection's management of the Meres in a somewhat different light.
The local paper, the Grantham Journal, received so many complaints from readers that it took the unusual step of sending in undercover reporters at the end of last year to see for themselves.
The result was summed up in the damning headline: "The Meres Leisure Centre is branded 'a filthy, smelly, vile, unruly dive'"
The report began: "Readers are fed up to the back teeth with conditions at Grantham's Meres Leisure Centre. They say it's filthy, smelly and overrun with unruly kids.
"So the Journal went undercover to find out the truth - and showed the evidence to leisure centre bosses.
"Over the past five weeks, the Journal has gone at varying times three times a week armed with a camera and notebook to record its findings.
"We found a litter-strewn changing room, mouldy shower heads and teenage yobs running riot.
"The stench of urine in the changing room was sometimes overwhelming, the pool temperatures felt cold and the jacuzzi and adjoining splash pool were open only once."
Another report in the same newspaper told how a mother raised concerns over child safety, following a reduction in staff teaching young children to swim after managers decided to cut class sizes from eight children to six, and reduce tutors from two to one.
Even more damning is a website which collates complaints about Leisure Connection from all over the country over the past four years. You can read it by clicking the following link http://www.btinternet.com/~paul.burns/index.htm   If you then select the link to Grantham at the top of the page, read on and wait for your hair to curl!
Councillor Owens is absolutely right to express concern about the appointment of this company to look after the interests of Boston's swimmers and sportsmen and women.
Yet again, we see hard evidence of that cocky bunch of amateurs known as the BBI deciding that they know best and enforcing their decision on opposition councillors who truly have the interests of the local people at heart in the face of overwhelming evidence that their decision is the wrong one.
Not only that, but they have agreed that the borough should foot the maintenance bill at the PRSA, have written off £3 million in debt to the BSI, and agreed to blow as further £2 million on improvements at the swimming pool before gifting it to Leisure Connection.
What next, we ask?

You can write to us at boston.eye@googlemail.com  Your e-mails will be treated in confidence and published anonymously if requested.

*DABSI. Acronym for "Disabled and Able Bodies Sports Initiative" the name used for the PRSA in the early years of its development.