Haringey Opposition challenge leisure decision over value for money

Liberal Democrats in Haringey have ‘called-in’ a council decision to start running leisure centres in-house. Haringey’s Labour-run council made the decision at a recent meeting of Cabinet after being presented five options for the future of its Leisure Services, however the report failed to provide any financial comparison, and an external consultants report that looked into the options was not presented to the Cabinet as part of the decision making process.

The council have not consulted residents on the decision, and also failed to rigorously compare their chosen option of insourcing the service to alternatives - such as using a well-regarded national leisure provider - with no scoring system used to compare different models, and the cabinet papers showcased a significant number of cons with an in-house service before this option was then recommended. 

The cabinet therefore failed to demonstrate that their chosen option would provide value for money for residents, and this ‘call-in’ by the Opposition group means that the council’s scrutiny committee will examine the decision, whether sufficient information was provided, and whether it provides Value for Money to the council; and has the power to ask the cabinet to relook at whether to change course.

Insourcing would mean a significant financial risk to the council at a time of already stretched budgets, with a deputation from the Park Road Lido User Group at the Cabinet Meeting raising their serious concerns with the decision: suggesting that the Lido could be vulnerable to closure if the council had to make further cuts in a future budget. 

Under questioning from the Leader of the Lib Dem Group, Luke Cawley-Harrison, officers indicated in the meeting that running leisure centres in-house could cost the council an additional £200,000 to £300,000 each year compared to using an external provider, and will require over £7 million of borrowing for repairs and centre investment, costing hundreds of thousands more in interest repayments in coming years.

Lib Dems previously welcomed Haringey’s previous decision to take control of the borough’s failing leisure centres away from Fusion, who have failed to keep the facilities up to the required standard. However, this subsequent council choice to start running leisure centres in Tottenham and Crouch End directly, rather than asking a new company to run the service, has been taken without a proper analysis of the costs, without consulting residents, and without assurances that the council has the expertise necessary to run swimming pools.

Cllr Alessandra Rossetti (LD-Alexandra Park), Opposition Spokesperson for Council & Customer Services, said:

“The council should not be taking any decisions without properly considering whether they provide value for money, and presenting this information clearly to both decision-makers and its residents; particularly at this time of stretched budgets. With this call-in, we are requesting that this information, which should have been presented to cabinet members in the first place, is provided to the Council’s Scrutiny Committee and for them and the Cabinet to robustly re-examine the option of insourcing to ensure it provides value for money and is in the best interest of Haringey residents, with their views taken into account.”