This month my blog is focusing on the transition of local facilities and services from Vivacity, a charitable culture and leisure trust, back to Peterborough City Council. My interest in this stems from working for Vivacity for many years, being a member and volunteer at local sport and leisure clubs, and most significantly, researching the transfer of leisure facilities between organisations and local authorities.
Since this transition was announced I had called for transparency and clear communication from the involved parties. I had been joined in such calls by other former employees and people in the media including staff at Peterborough Matters and BBC Cambs. More broadly however, the public were making calls for improved communication and their calls were not being received.
As part of the survey of 40 local residents that was constructed with the help of some fellow researchers, we asked respondents to share any questions or concerns that they wished to raise with the Peterborough City Council regarding the transition of these services. 75% of respondents completed this section (it was optional) with 50% sharing written concerns regarding their experience of using the facilities, their views on the future of the facilities and services, and their views on the transition period. Whilst there was a variety of responses, there was one prominent theme. Communication.
Overall there is a mix of responses that relate to discussing broader issues on “facility” “management” within Peterborough. “Facilities” was the most common term as respondents referred to assets across the city and not just Vivacity sites. But the term “management” came up too in regards to the management of Vivacity and the Management of the Council. There were concerns raised with how members would be updated and what refunds would be accessible to them. But overall members were expressing their desire for “better communication with current members”.
“People” was prominent as a response. This did not reflect a particular theme as respondents were referring to a variety of stakeholders as people. As the following quote demonstrates, “Bring new people onboard from outside of the current set up and give the people of Peterborough leisure facilities that they want to use. You have a huge opportunity... don’t just transfer a failing business with people on large salaries”.
There is not much to say about the ways in which “Peterborough” was used as a term as it is an inescapable word that covers most responses. However “communication” was not destined to be in responses, it featured so heavily because of a genuine desire for improved communication and the only way to show this is to quote such exemplary responses verbatim.
“Communication needs to be improved about detail and information of possible opening. It is important during these difficult times to have these details as there are a lot of people who rely on this facility to improve their mental health and well being.”
“To the management of vivacity, lack of communication!! A basic email send to customers would of been nice, larger and smaller gym establishments have managed to communicate with customers, I’m a monthly payment customer so this doesn’t effect me but what about the annual payers, that have paid and have had no communication or replies, I am glad vivacity is being taken over, let’s hope who ever takes it over has better customer service”.
“As a Vivacity member, the communications around its closure have been extremely poor. And I find it sad the reopening of some sort of swimming pool in town isn’t more of a priority. I hope something happens soon.”
“Better communication with current members.”
This means that 10% of the sample expressed concern regarding the communication of the transition and much more were expressing disdain for the way that the transition was managed and the current ways of doing things. This is alarming. As promised to respondents I have attempted to share this with the City Council. The following question has been agreed to be discussed in the October 21 Full Peterborough City Council Meeting. The question accepted into the Full Council Meeting is:
"In August I conducted research with a 40-person sample of local residents who were contacted through social media. They provided feedback on their experience of using local leisure services. This group proved relevant for the transition as 70% of respondents had used Vivacity pools, 57.5% had used Vivacity Gyms, 40% had used the Athletics track, and 37.5% had used the Lido. At least half of the sample reported that price, variety of provision, location, community and social value were influential in their choice of leisure facility. In terms the future of these services, 32.5% of respondents preferred the City Council to run things in house, 42.% preferred a new leisure trust, and 25% preferred a community group or local sport club to run things. Finally, respondents were asked to share feedback. The majority of responses covered an issue with communication. As can be seen with the following responses “Communication needs to be improved about detail and information of possible opening. It is important during these difficult times to have these details as there are a lot of people who rely on this facility to improve their mental health and well being.” “To the management of vivacity, lack of communication!! A basic email send to customers would of been nice, larger and smaller gym establishments have managed to communicate with customers, I’m a monthly payment customer so this doesn’t effect me but what about the annual payers, that have paid and have had no communication or replies, I am glad vivacity is being taken over, let’s hope who ever takes it over has better customer service”. “As a Vivacity member, the communications around its closure have been extremely poor. And I find it sad the reopening of some sort of swimming pool in town isn’t more of a priority. I hope something happens soon.” “Better communication with current members.”
As such I would like to ask the Council, what are the plans to ensure communication is improved to provide local residents and members of leisure services with sufficient information regarding the future of these services?"
Thanks to those that have helped with this small research project. Hopefully it keeps an important issue on top of the Council's agenda for a little while longer. Thanks also to those that helped with campaigning. Our efforts have not gone unnoticed. Recently an NGO based in Switzerland allowed us to use their platform to blog about the national #SaveLeisure campaign and local campaign in Peterborough as part of a story on how leisure provision is essential for achieving the UN's SDG.
This wraps up my first month of blogging on this site. I am grateful to those that gave their time in helping with content and helping me prepare the site. Next month will focus on how Covid-19 has impacted Road Running...
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