Cash to help leisure centres is criticised

By Lachlan Leeming, local democracy reporter

Greenwich council has responded to claims it gave a £800,000 bail-out of tax payer money to help a London library and leisure centre operator survive after their finances were buffeted during the coronavirus pandemic.

Workers’ union Unite claimed earlier this month Greenwich was among the London councils who signed off on donations to Greenwich Leisure Limited (GLL), a not-for-profit organisation contracted to run various council services in more than a dozen London boroughs.

“Councils, including Hackney and Greenwich, have handed over council taxpayers’ money to keep GLL afloat. In the case of Greenwich, this amounted to £800,000, along with a five-year extension to the contract,” Unite regional officer Onay Kasab said earlier this month.

“This is a clear and obvious case of good money being thrown after bad.”

The union pointed to a July 22 meeting of Greenwich’s cabinet, where members unanimously voted to approve a support package for GLL, which was spun off from the council in 1993.

The exact cost of the financial support was contained in exempt documents and thus wasn’t publicly available, and the item itself was mentioned briefly by members before they gave it the tick of approval.

The union subsequently asked why the authority was giving tax payer money to GLL and not other contractors used by the council.

A town hall spokesman said: “Clearly there was no revenue for the four months that our leisure centres were closed.

“Reopening on a very limited basis also means that GLL continues to operate in very difficult circumstances as social distancing means that they cannot operate at capacity and so, like many businesses in the leisure sector, it may actually be more costly to reopen than to remain closed.

“It was on that basis that the council agreed a package of support.”

Pictured: Woolwich Town Hall