It does not mean that they don't face challenges in general because of cuts in funding. But, as always, bad management makes the shit hit the fan when times are leaner.
I am convinced that it is possible to balance the books on a leisure centre, for instance.
Heating costs for pools quadrupled over the last 18 months. They’ve come down a bit, but that’s still a massive impact.
Salaries have shot up too, and have done for 20 years, as minimum wage has increased well beyond average wages or inflation.
But the largest impact on council funding in general is the increased money going into looking after the elderly, and that sometimes means selling off the land a leisure centre was on to pay for that for a couple of years, doesn’t matter that the centre was slightly profitable, it was occupying a large amount of land value that could be spent on Generation Me instead.
It does not mean that they don't face challenges in general because of cuts in funding. But, as always, bad management makes the shit hit the fan when times are leaner.
I am convinced that it is possible to balance the books on a leisure centre, for instance.