Frequently Asked Questions: Leisure Services

General - FAQs

Why have leisure centres and public halls not reopened since the Government said they could reopen on 25 July?

The Government said that leisure centres could reopen from the 25 July if they wanted to and if it was safe to do so.

However, we have reached a mutually agreed decision with Fusion Lifestyle that Hounslow’s leisure centres will be managed by Lampton Group – the council’s wholly owned company – and Public Halls will be managed by the council, with a confirmed transfer date of 1 November 2020.

When will they be reopening?

Hounslow Council, along with its trading company Lampton Group have taken over the operational running of the leisure centres from 1 November 2020 and will introduce a phased approach to reopening services as soon as possible, but this won’t be before at least December, based on the Government’s latest national measures, and providing government guidelines to ensure they are covid-secure can be met when we are given the go ahead by Government that they can reopen. A new entity within the Lampton Group, Lampton Leisure has been set up specifically to run the Leisure Centres and will take over the operational running of the centres from 1 November 2020.

Will Leisure Centres and Public Halls be open on the 1 November 2020?

No, The Leisure centres and public halls will be opened in a phased way as soon as possible. However, we now know that we are entering into a month of more stringent government restrictions in order to slow the spread of coronavirus, and we will not be able to reopen until December at the very earliest.

Why has it been decided that Fusion will no longer be operating the leisure centres and public halls?

It was a mutually agreed decision between Fusion Lifestyle and the Council, and enables Fusion Lifestyle to consolidate their operations nationally, and for the Council to align our offer with our ambitions in the Corporate Plan, particularly working in partnership with Public Health and the NHS to deliver positive health and wellbeing outcomes for borough residents.

Why do we need to have all our leisure centres and public halls closed until after the transfer date on 1 November and how do you choose which ones you are going to re-open when?

There needs to be a period of time to transfer staff, systems and data from Fusion to Lampton Leisure and the Council. During this transition period the centres cannot be reopened but we are minimising the time of transition as much as possible. We will re-open on a phased basis as soon as possible, depending on practicalities of operations, and ensuring we are meeting new government guidelines and the buildings are covid-secure.

Who should I contact for further information?

If you have questions not covered here please email leisure@hounslow.gov.uk about leisure centres, or halls@hounslow.gov.uk about public halls.

What will happen to the staff at the leisure centres and public halls?

The staff who look after the Hounslow Contracts for both the leisure centres and public halls have been transferred to Lampton Leisure and the council respectively through a Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 2006.

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