"Positive feedback and minimal complaints" since new company took over Bedford's leisure facilities - with more improvements to come

Councillor Colleen Atkins (Labour, Harpur), the chair of the Environment and Sustainable Communities Overview and Scrutiny Committee (July 18) told Greenwich Leisure Ltd (GLL) they’d been “a lot of more” questions and comments about the leisure centres in the past.

“You can take that as a real compliment,” councillor Atkins added.

Gillan Kelly, GLL partnership manager, said the company had delivered a “series of improvements” since taking over in February.

“The response from customers has been positive,” he told the committee.

“We’ve had lots of positive feedback and minimal complaints, which is a good indication of how the transfer went.

“We’ve reopened the Oasis Beach Pool on May 20, with still lots of work going on behind the scenes as we approach the summer.

“We’ve also delivered a significant package of improvements across the centres,” he said.

“[As] an example, at Oasis Beach Pool we’ve modernised the reception space to make it more welcoming and a more open plan space for users to experience.

“[We’ve also] identified areas within the centres that needed immediate improvement in terms of cleanliness and standards.

“An example [is] the changing village at Robinson Pool, which we understand has been a bugbear for users for a long time, increasing cleaning regimes and improving the look and feel of the centres internally,” he said.

The committee heard that underutilised space has been repurposed, such as a room John Bunyan is now used for children’s parties alongside the soft play offering, and can be hired for meetings.

“It was important for us that staff areas were enhanced as well,” Mr Kelly said.

“We want staff to to feel proud of the areas that they work in and they carrythat professionalism with them.

“We want to make some improvements at the gyms at Robinson Pool, John Bunyan, Kempston Pool, and Bedford International and so in the weeks and month ahead service users can expect to see their gym environments improved.

“We are still on a journey here and we’re planning to bring forward lots more improvements to the programmes [on offer],” he said.