St Mary’s Community and Leisure Centre

We are looking for a charity or community-based organisation to take on St Mary’s Community and Leisure Centre on a long-term low-cost lease. We want them to maximise the use of the building and use it to support the St Mary’s community. The building will undergo repairs to make it safe and usable.

We are looking for an organisation with the vision and commitment required to enable greater use of the building to support diverse communities and a wide range of needs.

If you are interested in submitting an application, please address the areas outlined below in the assessment criteria in a business case and submit it to [email protected] by Sunday 2 March.

All submissions will be assessed in a fair way, please include contact details for any follow up questions.

Criteria Percentage Questions
Community offering 15%
  1. How will you work with the current regular bookers to improve the programme of activities?
  2. What additional community use are you proposing running from the centre?
Financial credibility, financial sustainability and longevity of the organisation 20%
  1. Provide evidence of the successful implementation of a similar model at a comparable centre.
Business plan – information on medium to long-term business planning and how they will achieve what they set out. Understanding the operating model 30%
  1. How will you seek to grow visitors and usage over the first three years?
  2. What are your plans for maintenance and investment of the site(s) and facilities?
  3. What is your current existing business?
Plans to support the wider needs of the city 15%
  • Which other organisations and stakeholders are you working with in the city?
  • Attendance and membership of working groups such as PPA and Energise Me
Community impact and access – how the plans and options impact on the community (including the schools programme) whilst ensuring that there is continued access to provision across the sites 20%
  1. Describe how your proposed programme of activities will benefit the following community groups:
    • Woman and girls
    • Lower income groups
    • Black, Asian, and Minority Ethnic communities
    • People with long term conditions or disabilities
    • LGBTQ+ community
    • Children, young people and families
  2. How will you work in partnership with other voluntary and community groups to maximise impact?

Business cases will be reviewed by an assessing panel which will have representatives from Leisure, Corporate Estates and Assets, Public Health, and partner representatives.

If you have any further questions, or to request documents and supporting information to help with your business case, please get in touch at [email protected].

Useful documents

Document Type Size
St Mary’s Community and Leisure Centre red line drawingpdf99.9 KB