Last Friday November 1, in a significant development in the future of Rye Sports Centre, East Sussex County Council agreed to drafting a twenty-year lease to Rye Town Council and the specially-formed charity hoping to take over its running. It follows confirmation earlier this autumn that £650,000 of repairs will go ahead using levelling up funds. So what happens next? Cllr Rebekah Gilbert is one of the project managers working on the centre’s future.
When the town’s swimming pool was closed almost exactly two years ago because of high energy costs, local people came out in force to protest at how this would affect their mental and physical health. It also made it incredibly difficult for all local children to learn to swim, having to travel miles away to the next available pool.
A group of volunteers got together to find a solution and, since then, have been working with the many stakeholders involved with the site to create a new health and wellbeing hub, which will take over the running of in April 2025. They have consulted widely with the local community, the many charitable and voluntary groups who use the centre, other sports users, and the local cottage hospital to create a centre for not only sport, but health advice and outreach work.
Rye Recreation and Wellbeing CIO (charitable incorporated organisation) hopes to run the centre from next year. The chair of the trustees, and local resident, Barry Nealon says the 20 year lease is a big step forward. “I am grateful to Rye Town Council, Rother District Council, East Sussex County Council and Rye Academy, our principle stakeholders, for all their perseverance in making this happen, and to Freedom Leisure the current operators. There have been complex negotiations for many months now but finally getting the lease from ESCC means we have the green light to go ahead with the venture. I am extremely grateful to all the local donors and businesses who have supported our vision and backed us financially – their faith in the project is humbling and we are so grateful to them. I also have a great group of trustees around me whose perseverance over the past two years has been invaluable. Also to all those local residents who have supported our endeavours and shown us why we are doing this – we were not prepared to see such an important asset lost to the local community and have found a solution to keep it going.”
Now that the Rye Town Council has been granted a lease and the Rye recreation and wellbeing CIO has the go-ahead to operate the centre via a sub-lease, there will be several months of hard work regarding TUPE and staff recruitment, getting a new management system ready to go, and further engagement with the town and voluntary sector.
Mr Nealon said: “We are now in the transition period from aspiration to application, and very much look forward to working with our community to make this a go-to hub for health and wellbeing. A very big thank you to all those involved for getting us to this point.”
Should anyone like to make a donation to the CIO towards running costs, they can do so by contacting the CIO via its Facebook page or website Rye Leisure Centre Gift Aid forms for UK taxpayers are available, which make a significant difference to your donation.
Image Credits: Nick Forman , Chris Lawson , Freedom Leisure .