Plans to make sure a £650,000 grant to repair Rye swimming pool and leisure centre is used before the end of the financial year are being discussed next week. Rother District Council’s cabinet meets on Monday October 7 to hear how the money from the Levelling Up fund needs to be allocated by March 2025 or it risks being used elsewhere. Work to use the grant to make the centre more energy efficient is already well under way.
In a report ahead of the meeting Cllr Hazel Timpe, portfolio holder for neighbourhood services, tourism, joint waste contract at RDC says: “This is another case of the time sensitive impact of the Levelling Up funding, awarded to RDC for Rye, which needs to be handed over before the deadline. The residents of Rye deserve to have their facility upgraded.”
The report notes: “The replacement of certain plant and equipment will improve efficiency and so reduce utility costs. Failure to deliver improvements to Rye Swimming Pool and Leisure Centre may result in the funding allocated to this project being returned to the Department of Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (now known as Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government).”
The cabinet is being asked to give RDC’s head of neighbourhood services delegated authority to “procure consultants and contractors and to defray funds to third parties as required, in consultation with the cabinet portfolio holder, to deliver improvements to Rye Swimming Pool and Leisure Centre, spending the £650,000 of allocated LUP funding.”
The council has already been working with Medway based consultancy DMA Maintenance on the repairs to the Rye centre.
Meanwhile progress on the swimming pool was also on the agenda at Rye Town Council meeting on Monday September 30, with some discussions held in private.
During the public part of the meeting, councillors debated who should be the council’s trustee representative on the Rye Recreation and Wellbeing CIO (the organisation that is intended to oversee Rye Leisure Centre). While Councillor Hansen (already a CIO trustee) was proposed for the position, there was an opposing view that the mayor, Andy Stuart (not present) should represent the council, albeit with concerns being raised over his already busy schedule and the need for consistent representation at CIO meetings. Agreement could not be reached and a vote was taken with a small majority deciding to defer the decision to a future date.
The public were then excluded from the meeting on the basis that commercially confidential information to do with the transfer of the leisure centre was going to be discussed.
A further update on the future of Rye Leisure Centre is expected at the next full meeting of Rye Town Council on Monday October 14.
Image Credits: Nick Forman .