Save the Quays!
September 9th 2009
Alan Whitehead was today campaigning with volunteers to save the Quays Swimming and Diving Complex from Tory privatisation plans.
They were asking residents to sign a petition calling on the Conservatives to scrap their plans to privatise the award-winning leisure centre.
The Conservative-run City Council has already spent £250,000 to encourage private firms to take on the running of the Quays.
Alan said:
“There are simply no good arguments for going ahead with these privatisation plans. Right now other Councils are taking over privately run leisure centres to keep them open for the public. The idea that the Conservatives would be able to secure a fair deal for the city in such an environment is a view that is almost certainly formed by dogma, not reality.”
“And whatever the economic context, it is a fact that the Quays already provides an excellent service for the city. It would be a huge blow to the city if a private operator were allowed to cut opening times or raised prices, which is almost certainly what would happen if these plans went ahead.”
Sign the petition to save Southampton's leisure centres from privatisation
What do you think about this story? Email Alan
Save Our Leisure Centres- campaign background
(reproduced with permission of Southampton Labour Party)
They’re OURS
Built with public money, including your council tax, some our city’s most popular leisure centres are owned by the Council and belong to the people of Southampton.
HOWEVER – all this is about to change
Southampton Conservatives plan to sell off these valuable assets.
The much-publicised refurbishment of the Quays, funded with public money (£90,000), is being undertaken just to make it more attractive to a private company. The Conservative Councillor with responsibility for Leisure admitted this in a council meeting.
Why sell them off?
Why are they selling off assets like these Leisure Centres? This is purely ideological – Conservative council leader Alec Samuels has made it clear that he wants to get rid of these facilities as a matter of principle.
“For ideological reasons we are going for outsourcing, externalisation, privatisation, wherever possible and sensible, especially but not exclusively in the leisure and recreation area.”
Alec Samuels, October 3rd 2008 http://conservativehome.blogs.com/localgovernment/2008/10/southampton-rev.html
Which centres are under threat?
The Conservatives are looking to privatise:
- The Quays Swimming & Diving Complex
- Bitterne Leisure Centre
- Chamberlain Leisure Centre
All of these centres are award winning under the Quest Quality Award scheme - last measured in March 2008
The Quays- ranked as the 2nd best leisure venue in the UK and Ireland. The venue achieved ‘Excellent’ status. The centre gained highest scores for its continuous improvement, marketing and customer care.
Chamberlayne Leisure Centre- ranked the 3rd best sporting facility in UK and Ireland in March 2008. Achieved the Quest Quality Mark and was rated as ‘excellent.’
Bitterne Leisure Centre- achieved the same 'Excellent' status in the Quest Quality Award scheme
Put simply, we’ve got some of the best leisure centres in the country. It’s very difficult to see how a private company could generate more profit from the centres- unless, of course, they drastically cut services or increased charges.
What privatisation will mean for you
No more free swimming
Publicly owned pools in Southampton must offer under 16s and over 60s the right to swim for free, thanks to a scheme introduced by the Labour Government.
Southampton’s pools have already hosted over 3700 extra free swims since the scheme was launched in April 2009.
But the free swimming offer only applies to public pools. If our pools are privatised, there is no guarantee that their new private owners will continue to offer free swimming.
Job losses
Southampton’s leisure centres are already extremely efficiently run.
If a private company took them over and looked to increase their profits, it’s likely that the only way they could do so would be by either firing staff or cutting wages.
That’s not just bad news for the people who work at these facilities- it will also mean worse customer service for everyone who uses them.
Higher Council Tax
The Council has already spent £250,000 trying to find a buyer for these centres. This loss will have to be made up either from cuts to other services like roads and bin collection, or rises in your council tax.
What can you do?
- Sign the petition against privatisation of our leisure centres.
- Get your friends and family to sign up too.
- Write a letter to the Daily Echo voicing your opposition to the privatisation plans- http://www.dailyecho.co.uk/yoursay/lettersubmit/ or write by hand to
Letters Editor,
Southern Daily Echo
Newspaper House
Test Lane
Southampton
Hampshire
SO16 9JX - Write to John Hannides, Conservative Cabinet member responsible for Leisure telling him to scrap his privatisation plans councillor.j.hannides@southampton.gov.uk or write by hand to
John Hannides
15 Butterfield Road
Bassett
SO16 7ED
Labour will submit all the signatures opposing the privatisation plans to Southampton’s full Council meeting in November.