January 17, 2023 8.30 pm This story is over 24 months old

Council pays £530k ‘compensation’ over Yarborough Leisure Centre closure

The payments have been revealed for the first time

The City of Lincoln Council appears to have paid over £536,000 in compensation to the company which runs Yarborough Leisure Centre.

The council-owned Lincoln facility was closed for most of last year for urgent roof repairs.

Data published by the council reveals 15 payments between February and September 2022 while it was closed.

They have a reference of ‘Yarborough Leisure Centre’ and were paid to the facility operator Active Nation.

The expense type is listed as ‘Ex gratia payments’, a term which means compensation without accepting legal liability.

The full amount could be higher as figures from later than September haven’t been published yet, and the centre reopened in January 2023.

The capital costs of the repairs were £584,000, meaning the total expense of the repairs was approximately double what has previously been reported.

The council says it is unable to provide further information to commercially sensitive contracts.

Councillor Bob Bushell, Portfolio Holder for Remarkable Place at City of Lincoln Council, with Harriet Barker, Acting Business Manager at Active Nation. | Photo: COLC

Jaclyn Gibson, Chief Finance Officer at City of Lincoln Council, said: “These are payments due to Active Nation under our contractual arrangements with them.

“We are unable to provide further details beyond what has been reported on our website, due to the information being commercially sensitive.”

Active Nation have declined to comment.

Lincoln’s only public swimming pool was closed in January 2022 after urgent problems were discovered with the roof.

It reopened almost a year later on January 2 after extensive work.

The publicly-viewable payments range from a few thousand pounds to £66,000, often with several payments a month.

The council owns the building, and Active Nation operates the leisure facilities on its behalf.


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