Cabinet is asked on 23 September to find a new operator for December 2027. The report also calls the Broadbridge Heath running track end of life.
Horsham District Council wants padel courts and a full-size 3G pitch at The Bridge, and a gym half as big again at the Pavilions. It also says the running track at Broadbridge Heath is at the end of its life, and that a third running track in the area is not needed.
All of that is in a draft Cabinet report published on 1 September. Its actual purpose is more procedural: the council’s leisure contract with Places Leisure expires on 30 November 2027, and Cabinet is being asked on 23 September to start finding a replacement (draft Cabinet report).
The contract has run since December 2012, a ten-year deal with a five-year extension triggered in December 2022. Four centres are covered: Pavilions in the Park, The Bridge Leisure Centre, Billingshurst Leisure Centre and Steyning Leisure Centre.
What the investment study found
An options study looked at all four. Its conclusions were blunt:
- all four play an important strategic role
- the facilities are operating at or near capacity
- population growth will add more demand
- the buildings need modernising and the offer needs broadening
What is proposed at each centre
The Bridge, Broadbridge Heath. This is the newest of the four, and the report says it does not need significant internal work. The proposals are mostly outdoors:
- one full-size floodlit 3G artificial turf pitch, addressing what the report calls an identified shortfall in 3G provision across the district
- the existing outdoor hard-court multi-use games areas converted into two covered padel courts, because they are underused
- a small-sided 3G training pitch on the remaining hard-court space
- the existing spin studio refurbished into a purpose-built immersive spin studio
- the Clip n Climb area, described as under-performing, repurposed as soft play
Pavilions in the Park. Opened in 2002, and the report says it needs more significant internal investment. The gym is already running over capacity:
- the 70-station gym extended by up to 40 stations, to as many as 110
- a roughly 15-station “Active Wellbeing Hub” with low-impact equipment, aimed at people who are less active, have mobility difficulties, are recovering from injury or illness, or are new to exercise
- two dedicated multi-purpose studios
- a dedicated immersive spin studio
- the spa and health suite reconfigured and possibly extended
Steyning. The centre shares its site with Steyning Grammar School, which is about to start a five-year building programme moving its three sites onto the main Steyning site. The pool and changing rooms are unaffected. The dry side is a different matter: the report calls the building dated and poorly arranged, and says the sports hall in particular is reaching the end of its life. Talks are under way on security of tenure and on including demolition in the school’s programme. Any new leisure facilities are expected to be sought around 2029, and the new contract will allow a variation so that decision can be taken later.
Billingshurst. No major development is recommended, because of site constraints. The live issue there is access to the school’s facilities. The dual use agreement with The Weald School expired in April 2024, and the school has run the sports hall, studio and artificial pitch exclusively ever since. The report says the school has indicated a new agreement is possible, subject to the business case.
The running track question
The Broadbridge Heath running track is the sharpest thing in the report. The council says the facility is at the end of its life. Local clubs still use it, but usage has fallen significantly in recent years. Two other tracks now serve the area: a new one at Christ’s Hospital school, and Crawley Borough Council’s upgraded track at K2.
Its conclusion is one sentence: “It is not considered that a third running track in the area is necessary.”
No closure decision is recorded in this report. Agreeing a strategy for the track’s future is a stated commitment in the Council Plan 2023 to 2027, and the options were considered as part of the investment analysis. But what Cabinet is asked to approve on 23 September is the procurement, not the track’s fate.
What it will cost, and what the council is not saying
The money is not public. The financial consequences sit in exempt Appendix A, and the investment options themselves are in exempt Appendices B and C. They are withheld under paragraph 3 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A to the Local Government Act 1972, which covers a person’s financial or business affairs. Cabinet is asked to agree in principle to investment “up to the amount stated in exempt Appendix A”.
What is public is how the council intends to test the cost. It would run a Competitive Flexible Procedure. That takes a base bid with no council capital in it, then tests a series of variant bids:
- the base bid on a 10-year term, operator investment only
- the same on a 15-year term
- council-funded Option A investment at The Bridge and the Pavilions, on 10 and on 15 years
- Option A at The Bridge plus Options A and B at the Pavilions, on 10 and on 15 years
- variants applying an agency model instead of a traditional operating contract
The base contract term sought is 10 years with two possible five-year extensions. Bids will be scored 40% on price and 60% on quality. The Real Living Wage is a mandatory requirement for every bidder. Any profit or surplus would be split 50:50 between the council and the operator. On energy, the operator would carry the risk on how much is used and the council the risk on tariff rises.
The timetable
- October 2026: tender documents signed off, tender notice produced
- November 2026 to February 2027: tender notice published, market interest day
- March to May 2027: initial tenders evaluated, bidder meetings, revised tender stage opens
- July 2027: revised tenders evaluated, bidders notified, standstill period begins
- August to November 2027: contract finalised, operator mobilises
- 1 December 2027: the new contract starts
What it means for you
Nothing changes at any of the four centres this year, or next. Your membership, your classes and your opening hours are unaffected until December 2027 at the earliest, and the investment work would follow the contract rather than precede it.
The parts most likely to matter to you are the ones with no date attached. Whether Billingshurst gets school facilities back depends on a business case with The Weald School. Whether Steyning’s sports hall is replaced depends on a Department for Education building programme. And whether the Broadbridge Heath track survives is a question the council has now put in writing without answering.
One more thing worth knowing about the timing. Among the reasons the report gives for going ahead now is to “position the leisure service positively in advance of Local Government Reorganisation”. Horsham District Council is proposing a 10-year base contract with two possible five-year extensions, and West Sussex is being reorganised into unitary authorities. The council that signs this contract is unlikely to be the one that lives with it.
The report went to the Finance and Performance Policy and Scrutiny Committee on 3 September and reaches Cabinet on 23 September. The forward plan puts the final decision, with Full Council, on 7 October. The officer named on it is Nick Jenkins, Head of Leisure and Culture.
Sources
- Horsham District Council, “Leisure Management and Active Wellbeing Contract Procurement”, draft Cabinet report for 23 September 2026, by the Cabinet Member for Wellbeing, Culture and Green Spaces
- Finance and Performance Policy and Scrutiny Committee agenda, 3 September 2026, item 10
- Cabinet Forward Plan, September 2026, item 2, decision due 7 October 2026, anticipated restriction part exempt
Checked against the sources above on 4 September 2026. Appendices A to D are exempt from publication, so no cost figure for the investment options is available and none is reported here. The investment schemes described are proposals to be tested through bidding, not approved works. The report is a draft going to Cabinet, which may amend it.
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