Council on track to reopen leisure centres and golf course

Published: Wednesday, 12th April 2023

Sevenoaks District Council has made further progress to reopen Edenbridge and Sevenoaks Leisure Centres and Lullingstone Park Golf Course.

The Council has agreed in principle for national leisure provider Everyone Active to take over the operation of the three leisure sites.

This follows on from the news that Sencio’s Board of Trustees will surrender the leases to all three facilities tomorrow (Thursday 13 April 2023).

The Council will now send in specialist teams to restart the maintenance and begin a deep clean of the sites.

Sarah Robson, the Council’s Chief Officer for People and Places, says: “We’re excited to be partnering with Everyone Active to manage Edenbridge and Sevenoaks Leisure Centres and Lullingstone Park Golf Course on an interim basis.

“Everyone Active, with its excellent track record of innovation and amazing customer service, has transformed leisure provision in Swanley bringing hundreds of thousands of customers through the doors in the first year alone. They have helped to make the leisure centre accessible and attractive to new customers of all ages and backgrounds. With their new ideas and experience of running more than 200 leisure facilities nationwide, they will play an important role in re-opening the three leisure sites.

“Now the Council has an agreement with Everyone Active in principle and the keys to the leisure sites, it can move forward at pace with its plans to reopen Edenbridge and Sevenoaks Leisure Centres and Lullingstone Park Golf Course.”

The Council, in partnership with Everyone Active, will announce the reopening dates of the three leisure sites shortly.
 

Notes to editors

On 4 April 2023, the Council agreed to appoint a new operator to run the three leisure sites after Sencio ceased trading at short notice. The Council will now enter into an agreement with Everyone Active to operate the facilities on an interim basis for up to two years.

Everyone Active already runs the Council’s White Oak Leisure Centre in Swanley. Since taking over the centre in February 2022, Everyone Active has overseen a huge increase in customers with some 400,000 visits in the first year and memberships increasing from a few hundred to more than 3,000.

As an existing supplier, the Council can award the interim management contract to Everyone Active without going through a full tender exercise. This is the quickest and most efficient way to appoint a new management company to run the three sites.