Hull City Council, working in partnership with Hull Culture and Leisure Ltd, has been successful in an application to Sport England’s National Leisure Recovery Fund (NLRF) and has been awarded £640,000 to support the reopening and recovery of leisure services.
Councillor Denise Thompson, deputy chair of Hull Culture and Leisure, said: “This is fantastic news for our leisure services. We know how much residents value our brilliant gyms, pools and sports facilities, and this money will not only help us reopen them promptly, but also ensure that we continue to build on the quality of the service that we can offer.”
The grant will used to support the reopening of facilities, as well as being used to rebuild the customer base and attract new customers to leisure services in Hull.
Some of the money will be used to install a temporary link corridor at Ennerdale Leisure Centre to enhance swimming changing capacities.
The funding will also be used to develop and improve Hull Culture and Leisure’s digital offer, which includes the development of a new app.
Councillor Dave Craker, portfolio holder for leisure and culture at Hull City Council, said: “We welcome this financial support for our leisure services. Our leisure facilities are vital to many of our residents, supporting both their physical and mental health.
“Our leisure services will be vital in encouraging people to get active and healthy as we recover from the pandemic.”
Hull is also receiving £1,542 as part of a monitoring and evaluation grant. This funding is being provided by Sport England, in addition to the NLRF grant, to help build richer and stronger insight for the sector.
This data will help local authorities, leisure providers and policymakers to support the recovery of public gyms and leisure centres and will provide new evidence of the sector’s performance, sustainability and social value.
The Government’s £100m National Leisure Recovery Fund was created to support publicly owned leisure facilities through the coronavirus crisis.
