West Berkshire Council: Have Your Say on the Draft Leisure Strategy

From West Berkshire Council:

West Berkshire Council are looking to invest millions in Sport and Leisure and we want you to have your say.

The Leisure Strategy, which is out for public consultation from 5:00pm on Thursday 8 October, sets out an ambitious set of targets to completely overhaul the way sport and leisure services operate for the next 10 years.

Cllr Howard Woollaston, Executive Member for Leisure and Culture at West Berkshire Council said:

”There is much to be proud of in West Berkshire and I want our sport and leisure offer to make a real contribution to peoples quality of life.

“We know how important physical activity is for our residents and delivering on this ambitious strategy will revitalise our approach and do so in an environmentally sustainable way.”

The strategy looks at addressing key local issues and will seek to improve levels of activity of adults which is currently below the national average. It comes at a time when we are seeing many more people access the natural environment and we are very keen to remove as many barriers to people who want to get out and do more.

We are interested in hearing what our community thinks about their opportunities to play sport, enjoy the outdoors and generally get more active. Much of our work over the next 10 years will be focussed on sustainable services that can be accessed across the district by people of different abilities and backgrounds.

Central to our services will be the leisure centres we run. It is vital that they keep up with modern demands and operate in a way that minimises their carbon footprint. We aim to focus our investment on the right facilities and ensure that we are co-ordinating our efforts with those around us. We want to hear what people think about how we intend to invest money across the district and if we have the right focus on things like outdoor space and leisure education.

These facilities will act as community hubs from which we can offer a broad range of services designed to meet the specific needs of their communities. This will be in partnership with others and our wider interests in connecting schools with support to develop their estate and in particular their playing pitches which are so popular all year round.

The public consultation goes live at 5:00pm on Thursday 8 October, closing 6 weeks later at midnight on Thursday 19 November 2020. To read the Leisure Strategy and have your say, please visit: www.westberks.gov.uk/draftleisurestrategy.

Those unable to participate online can request a hard copy by calling: 01635 519251 or emailing: jim.sweeting@westberks.gov.uk.