Council to close sauna and spa facilities in Wiltshire

Wiltshire Council has decided on the future of its sauna, steam room and spa pool facilities at seven of its leisure centres.

The review follows the council’s decision to temporarily close the facilities at the start of 2023 due to high running costs, at a time when energy costs were rising and the impact on the council’s carbon footprint.

In total, it cost around £80,000 a year to run the facilities, and in the nine months before closure, the open sites generated an income of around £10,000.

The facilities also had an impact on the council’s carbon footprint.

The council decided to reopen the health facility at the Five Rivers Health and Wellbeing Center in Salisbury on a trial basis to assess its sustainability.

It will reopen in September and more details about the specific date, opening hours and how people can access it will be confirmed soon.

The health room will close for good at Marlborough Leisure Center as the council makes improvements to the site, with the space needed to incorporate wet changing, creating a much larger changing area which will particularly help support swimming lessons from the school in the center. .

A Changing Places facility will also be installed, which will particularly benefit anyone with limited mobility or complex needs as it helps them get out and enjoy everyday activities.

The steam room at Marlborough was not used before the pandemic.

The health facilities at the Chippenham Olympics are to close for good. The facilities on the site have not been used since the pandemic and due to little use prior to this and the fact that it would cost around £11,000 to bring the suite into working order, it is not a viable option to bring it back into use. .

The council will consider its options on how best to use this space to better complement the improvement work currently underway at the centre.

Health facilities at Bradford-on-Avon, Devizes, Durrington and Springfield Community Campus (Corsham) will remain closed for the time being, with a decision made on their future in due course, which will be fully informed by usage and any lessons lessons learned from the reopening of the Five Rivers facilities.

Ian Blair-Pilling, cabinet member for leisure and public health, said: “We have thought long and hard about what to do with these facilities. They are expensive to run and have an impact on our carbon footprint, although we admit some people enjoyed using them.

“The space occupied by the Marlborough Health Suite will be put to good use as part of our major improvements taking place at the centre. As with the Olympia, we believe the space can be put to much better use, complementing the improvement work currently underway there.

“A lot of people have been in touch with us about the Five Rivers health facilities and clearly people in the area have been missed. As it will not be a significant cost to restore the facilities at Five Rivers, we believe it is a sensible option to reopen them on a trial basis at one of our flagship leisure facilities to see if enough people use them to to do is viable. This could then help us make a more informed decision about facilities at Bradford, Devizes, Durrington and Corsham.

“We are in the process of finding the best way to provide these services to our customers at a good price, but in a way that is sustainable for us. We will have more information on this soon.

“We are committed to providing our residents with the best possible facilities to ensure their health and well-being are fully supported and thank people for their patience while we carried out this important due diligence.”