Opening hours to be extended at five Fife leisure centres

Fife Sports and Leisure Trust has announced the changes as part of its post-Covid recovery plan. However, centre users are advised the extended opening hours will not be in place until later this year.

The sports and leisure services provider now hopes to engage with local communities, rolling out a consultation period to find out what programmes would be most popular to ensure attendance levels.

Under the plans, the trust will be increasing its opening hours at East Sands Leisure Centre in St Andrews by 15 hours a week; there will be an additional 13 hours at Cupar Sports Centre and Dalgety Bay Sports and Leisure Centre will open for an additional 15 hours. Cowdenbeath Leisure Centre will see the reintroduction of public swimming between noon and 3pm.

Fife Council will make a funding package available to support the launch of the new timetables.

Changes are also planned for the Beacon Leisure Centre in Burntisland with enhanced opening hours for ten weeks during the school holidays – Monday to Friday, 9am to 11am. This will allow the trust to deliver its usual holiday programmes for youngsters. The move, funded by the trust, will run as a pilot this summer with a view that a long-term model can be achieved if there is sufficient customer demand.

The Covid pandemic saw the trust’s centres forced to close and access restricted having a significant operational and financial impact. However, work by the trust has seen an 84 per cent overall recovery between April and December last year.

Emma Walker, chief executive of Fife Sports and Leisure Trust, said: “Thanks to the efforts of staff and loyalty of customers, the trust is now in a position that it can widen access for local communities. I hope that these changes to five of our sites will see more positive results across the organisation and drive our recovery further.

"I’d encourage people to engage with our consultation process in order that they can have their say and get the programmes they would most like to use. Customers attendances are going to be crucial in the long-term viability of the increased timetables.”

The new timetables will not be introduced immediately with implementation not expected until late summer or early autumn as the trust launches a recruitment drive for qualified staff to deliver the new timetables.

Councillor Linda Erskine, Fife Council’s spokesperson for communities and leisure services, said: “Lockdowns and restrictions throughout the Covid-19 pandemic brought the leisure and fitness sector to a relative standstill. Our leisure centres and community sports centres are vital resources to local communities, providing opportunities to improve fitness, health and wellbeing.

"This Fife Council funding will allow the leisure trust to widen public access to the facilities and will encourage people not only to take part in the consultation and have their say, but to make use of our leisure and sports centres to ensure their long-term future.”

To find out more, visit the trust’s website.