Shock over leisure centre operator working without business plan

Alec Doyle, local democracy reporter

Councillors have expressed disbelief over the admission that the company that took over the running of its leisure centres did so without a business plan in place.

Gwella Wales, a local authority trading company established by the council to take over the operation of leisure centres and libraries from Aura, has admitted that has been functioning without a full formal strategy to set performance goals and benchmarks in place.

Critical 

Members of Flintshire County Council’s Education, Youth and Culture Overview and Scrutiny Committee were critical of the revelation made by Education, Welsh Language, Culture and Leisure Cabinet Member Cllr Mared Eastwood at December’s full council meeting that there was no existing business plan.

“Flintshire Libraries and Leisure – now known as Gwella – was only established and registered as a company in October 2024 and services and staff transferred to it in November,” she said.

“The company will need time to consider and develop a mid to long-term business plan.

“In the interim I am advised the company is working with shorter-term plans, processes and procedures in place.”

Nevertheless this week some members of the scrutiny committee said they were shocked by the admission.

“All new identities when they are set up have to have a business plan in place – short term, medium-term and long-term,” said Buckley Bistre East councillor Carolyn Preece.

“Does this mean that it came to full council with no business plan in place? Would full council have voted for that and approved it knowing there was no business plan in place?

“I’ve never been involved in any company or business that has no business plan in place.”

Her concerns were echoed by Cilcain Cllr Andrew Parkhurst.

Disconcerting

“It’s very disconcerting to hear there appears to have been no business plan,” he said. “Also the comment on our action tracking document that it would be presented ‘when appropriate’.

“It should have been presented already. This vagueness is really just not acceptable.”

Dave Pugh, interim managing director of Gwella Wales, said: “The company was established in October, with staff transferring and service commencing in November 2024. The service experienced a very busy December with revenue above the previous year.

“The staff continue to implement short-term plans and are fully committed to delivering customer service expectations.

“An outline business plan for the new financial year, starting in April, is in place. Development of a detailed business plan for the financial year 2025/26 is a key priority for the senior leadership team, in collaboration with the Council.

“The new service is committed to exploring areas for improvement and engaging with all stakeholders in developing medium to long-term plans. We look forward to reporting progress and sharing future plans.”

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