Strategic Leisure has been at the forefront of delivering sustainable solutions for the management of council cultural, sport and leisure facilities for twenty years. In the last 8 years in particular, the goal of realising “best value” has been at the core of most local authority’s strategic thinking and Strategic Leisure has been instrumental in assisting councils in determining and delivering their strategy

Strategic Leisure is arguably the leading specialist leisure consultancy in the area of identifying options for the future management of cultural, sport and leisure services. In the last 8 years Strategic Leisure has undertaken in excess of 50 options appraisals including town and parish councils, local authorities, London boroughs and metropolitan boroughs and is able to be objective and independent in our evaluation and assessment of the services provided. We bring no pre-conceived ideas, nor do we have any vested interest in the outcome other than to address the requirements of the study, bring contemporary and innovative solutions and make unequivocal recommendations on the optimum way to deliver services. We have recommended continuing to operate the service in-house, partnership with a private leisure management contractor (with or without a hybrid trust), or transfer to an existing leisure trust and development of a new leisure. Our approach reflects the Audit Commission report ‘Public Sports and Recreational Services’ which was largely based on work carried out by Strategic Leisure. The success of our approach is evidenced by the number of authorities that have accepted our recommendations and where we have been retained to implement the chosen option.

A natural outcome from the Options Appraisal process is the implementation of a best value solution for the local authority. One of Strategic Leisure’s key specialisms is delivering best value partnership arrangements. We provide a variety of solutions for procurement projects from managing the entire process through to a “hand holding” approach. For each and every solution there is a wealth of knowledge and expertise available from a team with an unsurpassed record of successful delivery.

Strategic Leisure’s approach is based on our well established Best Value Procurement Framework. This approach is tried and tested and has successfully delivered more best value procurement projects than any other consultancy. It has been developed and evolved over years to keep pace with trends in local government and sport and leisure. This approach delivers real benefits to the Council and is directly referenced to best practice and national standards. The approach is based on the principles of best value and best practice (TaES) and Quest etc has been developed specifically for the sport and leisure market and reflects the specific outcomes for each individual local authority.

Key Services Include:

In the past three years Strategic Leisure has successfully delivered in excess of 15 best value procurement projects including transfers to private companies and leisure trusts including;

• Bristol City Council 2006;

• Fareham Borough Council 2005;

• Kettering Borough Council 2007;

• London Borough of Havering; 2006

• Reading Borough Council 2005;

• Rushcliffe Borough Council 2007;

• West Berkshire Council 2007;

• Mid Suffolk District Council; 2006

• Poole Borough Council – 2006

• West Devon District Council; 2006

Please feel free to contact Kevin Franklin, Associate Director, who heads the Management and Procurement division at Strategic Leisure for a free, no obligation consultation to discuss your needs and how we can help. email: kevinfranklin@strategicleisure.co.uk or call 01398 361 510.