Reading several pieces in the last edition of KKP News around the topic of facility development has inspired me to share our story.

Tameside Sports Trust was established in April 1999, to run and manage swimming pools and sports centres in the Tameside area. The general condition of our facilities was poor; the majority built in the late sixties. They consisted of 6 pools and 4 sports centres.

Over recent years, we have worked hard to raise capital investment to redevelop and modernise our facility stock. At times this has not been easy and we have had to work creatively, developing commercial partnerships to help demonstrate the possible return on investment.

I am pleased to say that we are now starting to see the fruits of our labours. In 2002 the Council underwent a CPA inspection and the poor condition of the facilities was highlighted. Medlock Leisure Centre in particular was singled for criticism. This was underlined during an ILAM mystery visit shortly after the inspection which ranked the facility in the bottom quartile. The facility then consisted of a 6 court hall, 2 squash courts, weights room; licensed bar and 4 third generation 6-a-side pitches.

In 2005 following a rigorous procurement process £4million was invested in the facility. This consisted of £3million funded by the Council to build a new pool adjoining the existing sports hall and £1million from a private investment partner for the redevelopment of the dry facilities. This included a 60 station fitness suite, dance studio new changing facilities and the refurbishment of ancillary areas.

Since redevelopment we have had a second ILAM mystery visit which saw Medlock move into the top quartile. We also signed up to the Sport England National Benchmarking Service and the facility has been ranked as one of the top ten facilities in its family group across the country for customer satisfaction.

Over recent years customer expectation has increased significantly as the number of private sector facilities opening in our area increases. Early on we made a commitment to ensure that our finishes and equipment were of a high standard. This has had a number of benefits, staff morale has improved significantly; they now have real pride in the facility in which they work, and vandalism is almost non existent because the community shares this pride in their facility. This has led them to voting with their feet - attendances have increased by 60%.

Qualitative evaluations like this, when added to our quantitative measures and KPIs such as increased income from memberships and general usage all help to paint a picture of success.

In 2006, we secured a 3-year grant agreement with the Council after working with KKP to develop a robust business plan to enable the Trust to base future decisions on sound management information and market intelligence. 

The success at Medlock enabled us to demonstrate to the Council the impact and outcomes refurbishment can achieve. This has led to a second phase; an £8million investment at three other sites to provide state of the art facilities with the most up to date equipment so that local people will have access to many different forms of activity.

By Neil Chaisty, General Manager, Tameside Sports Trust
Telephone: 0161 609 1260
Email: nchaisty@tamesidesportstrust.com