TODAY is a red-letter day as Alton Town Council uses the result of a public consultation and the ensuing debate to inform its decision on whether or not to support East Hampshire District Council’s (EHDC) proposed mix of facilities for Alton’s new sports centre.

Damned if they do or damned if they don’t, it is a decision that will determine the future of sports provision in the town.

While for EHDC the emphasis is on delivering a ‘leisure’ facility that will appeal to a wider audience, the concern among Alton’s thriving sporting community is that this will come at the expense of competitive sport, and could have a derogatory impact, particularly on the young.

But for EHDC chief executive Sandy Hopkins, the proposed new centre is an opportunity not to be missed.

“The new sports and leisure centre represents a huge investment in Alton and will be a fantastic facility that will serve the town for many years to come,” she said.

“Given the current financial climate, delivering a centre of this quality is a real challenge, but EHDC has found a way to bring a fantastic multi-million pound state-of-the-art facility to Alton.

“We will also be delivering a new leisure centre to Whitehill and Bordon and refurbishing the Taro Leisure Centre in Petersfield, making this one of the best served and up-to-date sports and leisure areas in the region.”

Ms Hopkins continued: “We have a legal responsibility to provide many services for the community, but leisure provision is not one of these. However, it is our duty to create communities that provide families, businesses and visitors with the opportunities they need to live healthy and fulfilling lives. Investing in sports and leisure facilities will make Alton a more attractive place to live and work, improving the quality of people’s lives and boosting the local economy.”

The deal, struck with leisure provider Everyone Active, is seen by EHDC as the way forward for delivering services like this. But due to commercial confidentiality, and the need to reach an agreement over a return for this joint investment, the details were kept under wraps and resulted in what Alton believes to be a significant lack of input from the community the centre will serve.

District council leader Richard Millard is adamant that this is the way it has to be if EHDC is to continue in its quest to use business to support the provision of community facilities. And, crucially, it is the only way forward for Alton.

“To provide East Hampshire with new leisure facilities, we have had to completely rethink how leisure is provided in this district,” he said.

“The old way of running leisure centres was not financially sustainable and saw public money used to subsidise the maintenance and management of the centres.

“If we were to continue delivering services in this way, we would not be able to make the same level of investment into the new facilities and we would have to divert resources away from other important services to pay for it. The reality is that if there was no other way of delivering leisure centres and there would likely be no new leisure centre for Alton.”

Referring to Alton, Petersfield and Whitehill and Bordon, he continued: “The new agreement with leisure providers Everyone Active will mean the centres will be self-funding and, over the life of the contract, will not cost the taxpayer a penny. In fact, they will generate income to pay for other services and keep council tax low.

“But to do this the new centres must provide facilities that will benefit the greatest number of users. As with any public service, unfortunately, it is not possible to meet everyone’s requirements.

“The mix of facilities agreed in the centre are the result of needs analysis studies looking at who uses modern centres and what for.”

And Mr Millard concluded: “While the initial capital investment for East Hampshire’s new leisure centres will come from EHDC, Everyone Active will repay that investment, with interest, over the lifetime of the contract through income generated by successful, financially viable centres.

“The surplus will be re-invested in council services and used to help keep council tax low.”