The future of Oakham's Catmose Sports Centre is once again being brought into question.

In January 2023, Rutland County Council (RCC) made the announcement 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. As such, the centre was scheduled to close in March.

This caused backlash among gym and swim members, swimming lesson users and the local community who condemned the lack of facilities in Rutland's county town.

As such, in February 2023, RCC 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 announced that the decision is to be reconsidered.

Rutland County Council agreed in May to re-open the tendering process to find an operator for the sports centre in Oakham on the basis that any offer would be at 'zero cost' to the council.

The immediate future of the sports centre was secure.

Companies were invited to submit bids based on three possible operating models: full price risk borne by the operator; full price risk borne by the council; or the price risk shared between the operator and the council.

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Fourteen companies responded to the tender process, but only two were suitable and neither of those could offer a proposal that had a zero cost to the council.

Rutland County Council have been reluctant to absorb any costs assosicated with the leisure facility. Image credit: Nub News.

At a cabinet meeting on Tuesday 15 August, Liberal Democrat Council Leader, Gale Waller, said: "The history of providing leisure facilities at Catmose Sports Centre is well known to everyone in Rutland. Following a failed attempt to get a successful tender for a nil-cost option earlier this year, the council re-opened the tender process knowing the pressure fuel costs are having on companies because that is where all the costs are at the moment.

"We did have a number of interested companies come back to us, but none of those satisfied the requirements for a no-cost option, which left us with just two bidders. So, whatever happens if we decided to go forward, it will be with some cost to the council – and these are costs that have not been yet budgeted for. However, two potential bidders is better than no bidders.

"What we need to decide today is if we go to the next stage of the bid process and invite a full tender from these two companies, or not; and even if we do, that does not mean that we are then obliged to accept one or other of them because they may come in at a level that we, as a council, might consider completely unreasonable.

"All we are deciding today is whether we move to the next stage of the tendering process in order that a final decision can be taken, or not."

Despite few appropriate bids, members of the cabinet voted to move to a second stage of the tendering process in an attempt to find a potential provider who can operate Catmose Sports Centre from July 2024 onwards.

The future of the centre remains uncertain.

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