PEMBROKESHIRE COUNTY COUNCIL is looking at reducing its budget for leisure and tourism services and a change in the way it delivers them in a bid to cut £700,000. 

The council is currently looking for views from the public and a consultation period was started this week (Monday, Aug 15) and will run until September 16.

It is estimated that between now and 2020, the council will need to reduce its spending by £52.5 million.

There have already been a number of changes to council services over the last few years which have contributed to the council meeting some of its budget pressures.

The council says they are keen to find a way to operate leisure and tourism services more efficiently and that they hope to avoid closure of facilities wherever possible.

Customers will not be affected by any new changes but it is hoped that they will be managed and governed differently.

“We are asking the community, service users and other stakeholders to help inform the decision-making process” said the Authority’s Deputy Leader, Keith Lewis.

He went on: “Over the past 10 years, Pembrokeshire County Council has invested in excess of £25 million in upgrading its leisure centres and libraries.

“It is therefore very important that we take advantage of any potential savings with a view to maintaining a quality service to our customers and securing the future of our staff.”

A specialist firm, Winckworth Sherwood, has been brought in to look at the different ways in which this can be delivered and they have come up with five new options for leisure services which are now out for consideration.

Two further options have also been drawn up for tourism services.

As part of these options, there will still be funding coming from the council but management arrangements differ.

The five options include creating a local charitable entity, a mutual or a co-operative organisation, a council controlled company, outsourcing through competitive tender or keeping services in-house.

Winckworth Sherwood has stated that they believe the best option would be to establish a new locally created charitable entity (Trust) to deliver culture and leisure services with a separate wholly managed subsidiary to manage tourism marketing services (Option 1 and Option A).

The council adds that all responses will be considered carefully before a decision is made.

One meeting to discuss these changes was held in Crymych on Thursday (Aug 18).

The five other public meetings have been arranged around the county over the next few weeks from 6.30pm to 8pm as follows:

Tenby Leisure Centre, Tuesday, August 23

Milford Haven Leisure Centre, Thursday, August 25

Fishguard Leisure Centre, Thursday, September 1

Haverfordwest Leisure Centre, Monday, September 5

Pembroke Dock Library, Monda, September 12.

Another way to participate is to visit the council’s website at: www. pembrokeshire/gov.uk.

Alternatively, ring the council’s Customer Contact Centre on 01437 764551 and ask for a hard copy of the consultation to be posted.

The deadline for responses is Friday, September 16.

The local authority have faced criticism thus far for the short notice ahead of some of the meetings.

Concerns have been expressed by some that transferring the council’s leisure services either to an arms-length company or a trust could potentially lead to job losses and a reduction in the range of facilities offered.

In North Wales, a similar arrangement ended disastrously, while in neighboring Carmarthenshire, there is strong resistance to similar proposals.