Torridge taxpayers safe from leisure collapse

No extra cost after admin issues

Torridge District Council has confirmed that council taxpayers won’t lose out after  a company it used for its leisure centre going into administration.

Active Nation, which processed payroll and membership subscriptions for centres in Northam, Great Torrington and Holsworthy stopped trading earlier this month.

The transfer of all payments to the council’s leisure company Active Torridge is now almost complete and running the centres hasn’t been affected, says the authority.

At a meeting of the council’s community and resources committee on Monday, chairman Cllr Robert Hicks (Ind, Monkleigh and Putford), who is also a director of Active Torridge, said they are resolving the issues.

The council has since clarified that this is “purely a back-office administrative issue and there will be no additional cost to council taxpayers”.

Customer bookings and memberships have continued as normal.

Cllr Chris Leather (Ind, Northam) told the meeting he is aggrieved that he had read about the issue in the press first and said all councillors should have been emailed about it.

“I know Active Torridge is an arm’s length company, but the chief executive is quoted in that article, I opened the paper last week and read it and thought I don’t know anything about this.”

Mr Hearse said a press release went out shortly after the company ceased trading and all members of the council received that.

The company and the council are closely linked. Council bosss Steve Hearse and head of communities and place Sean Kearney are among the directors of Active Torridge, along with council leader Ken James (Ind, Milton and Tamarside), Cllr Cheryl Cottle-Hunkin (Lib Dem, Shebbear and Langtree) and Cllr Lyndon Piper (Lib Dem, Holsworthy).

Warwickshire-based Active Nation, which also ran leisure centres in Lincoln that have now closed, along with other services, said high energy bills and the cost of living crisis contributed to its downfall.

TDC set up its own leisure company in 2022 to manage the council’s three key centres and is due to open a new facility in the old Bideford Library next year as part of a refurbishment of the town hall complex.

The contract has now been extended to 2032 after Active Torridge  outperformed ambitions set in its original business plan in the first two years of trading – despite energy costs and inflation.