Rutland County Council's (RCC) Cabinet is to reconsider its decision to terminate the Council's lease for Catmose Sports Centre and will do so at its next meeting on Tuesday 14 February.

Rutland County Council announced on 26 January that "sadly, the Council has been unable to find an operator who can run Catmose Sports Centre at zero cost", meaning that the centre looked set to close to the public on 31 March 2023. 

However, on Monday 6 February 2023, Rutland County Council hosted a meeting with 70 members of the general public regarding the closure of Catmose Sports Centre, during which they faced a wave of objections to the closure.

Following this, RCC have now announced that the decision is to be reconsidered.

The reconsideration has been triggered after four Cabinet Members gave a Notice of Motion requesting that the committee revisit its original decision, so it can reconsider the second of two options presented by Council Officers to Cabinet Members at their last meeting on 12 January: 

Option B: The extension of the Stevenage Leisure Limited contract for the operation of the Catmose Sports Centre for up to 24 months, to 31 March 2025, to enable the development and implementation of a new model for future provision.

Councillor Lucy Stephenson, Leader of Rutland County Council, said: "Since Cabinet took its decision on the future of Catmose Sports Centre, we have received a lot of interest from leisure operators who did not take part in our original procurement exercise, as well as some renewed interest from those who did take part but chose not to make a bid. Cabinet views recent provider communication as being a significant development that's worthy of further consideration. As a result, we feel it's necessary to revisit the options set out in the original Cabinet report."

The cabinet during Monday's meeting. Image credit: Nub News.

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If Cabinet withdraws its original decision in favour of Option B, negotiations would take place with Stevenage Leisure with a view to extending their current contract and continuing operations at Catmose Sports Centre beyond 31 March 2023. 

The Cabinet Meeting on 14 February will be held in the main Council Chamber, starting at 10.00am. You can read the agenda and reports for this meeting by going online.

You can also watch the meeting live online, over Zoom.