Leventhorpe and Fanshawe FAQ's

Due to the withdrawal of funding from Government. The Educations Skills Funding Agency has previously provided funding to support the management and operations of the facilities. With this no longer in place the Schools are unable to continue to keep their facilities open. The decision to close the centres is not one that has been taken lightly.

These facilities do not belong to the East Herts Council, they are not our facilities to close.  

The facilities do not belong to the Council. Community groups wishing to run the facilities would need to speak to the landlords of the facilities, the schools.  

Both facilities will close from Monday, 23 December 2024.  
Sunday, 22 December will be the last date the centre’s will be open to the public.  

There currently aren’t any funding options available to cover all of the costs for running, managing and continual maintenance of the sites in their entirety.  

We want to reassure all users that Everyone Active will be communicating with you in the next few days. We understand how important your swimming routine is, and Everyone Active will be providing alternative options at Hartham and Grange Paddocks centres where practical. 

All staff at Leventhorpe and Fanshawe pools will be offered redeployment opportunities where practical, It is anticipated there maybe redundancies.  

Further information regarding other sites can be found
here.

Section 106 financial contributions can only be used in accordance with the Legislation and allocated as per the actual wording of the contribution in the individual S106 Agreement.  The financial contributions collected by East Herts Council are identified and used in accordance with the Local Plan and requirements of the Supplementary Planning Documents – further information on Section 106 can be found on our Section 106 Agreements page. 
 

The May 2020 Open Space, Sport and Recreation Supplementary Planning Document identifies the need for specific Section 106 contributions for ‘Swimming Pools’ and these contributions are used to help fund the facilities owned by the council – that is the pools at Hartham Leisure Centre and Grange Paddocks Leisure Centre.

In 2018, a comprehensive leisure strategy was agreed, designating Grange Paddocks and Hartham as flagship district-wide leisure centres. The new Grange Paddocks Leisure Centre and the refurbished Hartham Leisure Centre were intended to cater not only for the residents of their towns but also for neighbouring towns and villages residents, in line with Sport England's recommended travel times.
 

The DfE funding was provided to the schools to pay for 40% of the pool time, and it was to cover the running and maintenance costs. The loss of this money is significant, and not something either the school, district, or county council can cover with existing finances. Unfortunately, current funding for schools is extremely limited and heavily ringfenced for education. Alternative funding pots available for schools (and councils) to apply to are very limited. Both schools have been in discussions with relevant government departments to see whether there were any opportunities available, and councillors have also lobbied our MP.
 

Learning to swim is an essential life skill. Swimming is also a great physical activity, good for mental wellbeing, and is accessible across the ages. And of course, keeping the population fit and active saves huge costs for the NHS and related services.

However, councils have had cuts in government funding and there are caps in how much council tax can be raised, making it impossible to deliver anywhere near what was possible even a few years ago. 
 

A review of all five East Herts District Council-operated leisure facilities took place. Of these, two – Grange Paddocks and Hartham – are owned by East Herts District Council, while the other three (Fanshawe, Leventhorpe, Ward Freman) are owned either by the schools or by County Council, with East Herts District Council providing operations. All five facilities were noted as being older and needing investment. This review flagged that it would be difficult to justify spending significant capital costs on facilities which were not owned by East Herts District Council, and which did not necessarily have a guaranteed future if DfE funding came to an end. The DfE funding has always been decided annually for a year at a time, making long-term planning challenging. As a result of these factors, the then-administration chose to commit investment to the two facilities that we owned outright, whilst leaving the door open for consideration of capital investment over the following years should anything significant change. Full details on this decision are in the council papers here, item 218.
 

The DfE was clear that this would be the final instalment, and that no further money would be available for any further costs associated with the pools. As such, any costs associated with demobilisation and decommissioning would need to come from this year’s DfE grant. Both schools worked hard to explore how long they could retain the pools with the existing grants, but in the end, without any additional money being made available, and without the option of taking decommissioning costs from any existing budgets, they felt that they could only keep the pools open until the end of term.  The remaining DfE funding will then be used to decommission and secure the sites. 
 

Ultimately, the pools are owned by the schools, and any decision as to their future rests with them. Of course, naturally the schools do not want to see their pools closing, but they simply cannot keep them open due to the cut in government funding. 
If you are aware of any community group who may wish to assist, then please contact us via our website.