New investment for City's Leisure Centres as new contract announced

June 12, 2025

Southend-on-Sea City Council is pleased to announce the appointment of Freedom Leisure as its new provider for leisure services across the city.

The new partnership covers the operation of three leisure centres - Belfairs Swim Centre Leigh-on-sea, Shoeburyness Leisure Centre, and Southend Leisure & Tennis Centre.

The decision to award the contract follows a competitive procurement process, now marking the start of an exciting new chapter for leisure facilities and programmes in Southend-on-Sea.

Freedom Leisure bring a wealth of experience and innovative ideas to enhance leisure opportunities across the centres and help improve the health and wellbeing of residents and the wider community. One of the UK’s leading charitable not-for-profit leisure trusts, Freedom Leisure manages over 130 leisure and cultural venues on behalf of local authority partners across England and Wales.

As well as bringing positive, long-term financial benefits, the new arrangements will see immediate improvement works begin across all three facilities, which will improve the leisure experience for everyone, whether they are skilled athletes, individuals prioritising their health and wellbeing or families looking to stay active and have fun.

The new contract starts from Tuesday 1 July; and customers will see Freedom Leisure on site over the next few weeks as a handover period begins. During this period, improvement works will be taking place, including repairs, maintenance, upgrades and deep cleaning. Any disruption to customers will be kept to a minimum.

During this time the new operator will also be conducting site visits, handover of key information, and transitions of all existing staff (including Chase Sports and Leisure Centre staff), from the current contract to the new one.

Recent improvement works carried out by the Council at Southend Leisure and Tennis Centre include new LED lighting, new and improved accessible changing facilities, boiler replacement works and new sports hall flooring. Shoeburyness Leisure Centre also benefits from new sports hall flooring and LED lights, as well solar panel installations and decoration works in the reception, corridors and pool viewing gallery.

Cllr Matt Dent, cabinet member for business, culture, music and tourism, says: “The Council is extremely pleased to have appointed Freedom Leisure as its operator for Belfairs Swim Centre Leigh-on-sea, Shoeburyness Leisure Centre, and Southend Leisure and Tennis Centre.

"This appointment and Freedom Leisure’s experience and capability evidences the council’s commitment to developing its leisure facilities, improving its sport and physical activity offer and providing the high standards of customer service our residents expect at these sites.

"I wish to thank everyone for their patience during the recent procurement process and during the forthcoming handover period. We also thank the outgoing leisure provider, Fusion Lifestyle, for the efforts of their Southend team over the last 10 years.”

All three facilities will remain operational and accessible during the transition period. This will ensure services continue with limited interruption, and that customers are not significantly impacted during the handover process. 

The Council and Freedom Leisure will be working with customers to ensure a high standard of customer service.  This will include opportunities for customers to share their perspectives and feedback with representatives from both organisations, which will help us to ensure they get the best experience when they visit our leisure centres.

Ivan Horsfall-Turner, Freedom Leisure CEO, says: “We are delighted to be working in partnership with Southend-on-Sea City Council. It's an exciting time for Southend as we can now start to work towards delivering inclusive, accessible and efficient leisure services across the city. We look forward to working with the council, new colleagues, customers and stakeholders to evolve and improve Southend’s leisure offer and help residents to have healthy active lifestyles.”

More information about the change to Freedom Leisure will be shared with residents in the coming weeks. Residents can keep up to date on Southend-on-Sea City Council’s website, and social media channels.

More information about Freedom Leisure can be found by visiting their website at Improving Lives Through Leisure | Freedom Leisure

Please note that Chase Sports and Fitness Centre, which is owned by Chase High School, is not included in the new Southend leisure contract. The school will continue to manage the facility independently, with updated public access arrangements taking effect from Tuesday 1 July. Further details about the future use of the centre will be shared shortly.