Residents asked to help shape future leisure services
Residents in North Yorkshire are being given the chance to help to shape the county’s leisure and wellbeing services.
An eight week-long survey has opened which aims to build a picture of physical activity across the county and understand what people take part in now, and what they would like to see available in the future.
It will help develop leisure facilities and community-based sport and leisure provision. North Yorkshire Council’s new Active North Yorkshire (ANY) brand came into play at the start of this month when two of its leisure centres – in Selby and Tadcaster – were brought under the new umbrella.
New livery was unveiled at the two centres in the first stage of our plan to bring all leisure services in-house.
The new Active North Yorkshire service will take a stronger focus on health and wellbeing and aims to support more people to be active, especially those who may need more help and those who don’t currently use the leisure service.
Our executive member for leisure, Cllr Simon Myers, said: “Through this survey we hope to find out how people keep active, what is important about being active and any barriers they face.
“We realise not everyone will use our centres to keep active so in order to build a full picture of physical activity in the community, it’s also important to find out about individual or team sports or activities like walking or cycling.
“And for those who do use the centres we want to know about their experience there, the strengths and where they can improve. For those who don’t use them we want to know why. This will help us to develop our services for the future.”
He said that there could be more need for help for people with long-term health conditions and where more specialised equipment, tailored health and wellbeing programmes, or more accessible facilities are needed. Centres may also be able to offer a broader range of support such as health checks, nutritional advice, or mental health services.
The chair of the Thirsk Hockey Club, James Laking, said it is important that everyone finds a way that suits them best to keep fit.
He added: “We have nearly 400 members from the age of five to 75 playing hockey to keep them active, using the council’s all-weather pitch at Thirsk several times a week.
“Sport is widely accessible in North Yorkshire - with the recent new facilities the council have supplied we have access to some amazing facilities. All clubs will welcome new faces along to join them and I actively encourage everyone to find a sport and stay active.”
North Yorkshire Sport’s chief executive, David Watson, endorsed his view saying that changes can only be made if people say what they want.
He said: “It is vital that everyone finds a way to keep active and by completing this survey they can help shape future services provided by the council as they bring the county’s leisure operations in-house.
“Targeting locally-based activities and services will open up opportunities for more people of all ages and abilities, especially those in remote locations where travel to the larger hubs is an issue.”
Up until now the leisure centres have been managed by five different operators in the former district council areas. They will move to be part of Active North Yorkshire in phases, operated by us as active wellbeing hubs.
The facilities in the former Hambleton and Craven council areas will adopt the new Active North Yorkshire identity later this year. Services currently provided by Brimhams Active in the Harrogate area and Richmondshire Leisure Trust will move by spring 2025. The last phase, in 2027, will see the transfer of facilities and services currently provided by Everyone Active in the former Ryedale and Scarborough council areas.