THE boss running a string of the city’s leisure centres has admitted some facilities could be forced to close if ministers do not reverse the decision to exclude operators from government support to pay rocketing energy bills.

Swimming pools and leisure centres have been dealt a blow after being left out of the ‘energy-intensive industries’ in the government’s ‘energy bills discount scheme’ – which will offer discounts on big energy bills to certain sectors, including museums and libraries, and other businesses and charities from April.

Ivan Horsfall Turner, the concerned boss of Freedom Leisure which runs Perdiswell Leisure Centre, St John’s Sports Centre and Nunnery Wood Sports Complex, said he was “extremely disappointed and frustrated” by the snub.

He called on government ministers to clarify what criteria was being used to decide which industries would be classed as “energy intensive” and said he found it “incredibly hard to understand” how a library or museum would use more energy than a public swimming pool.

“Public sector leisure is one of the most exposed sectors because we are a very intensive user of utilities with energy costs a very large proportion of our overall costs, particularly in centres with swimming pools,” he said.

“We have recently seen our annual energy bill move from £8m to £20m even with the temporary cap.

“Following [the] announcement of a ‘discount scheme’ those figures are clearly going to increase even further and, as a not-for-profit organisation that reinvests its surpluses back into the local community facilities we run, we simply do not have the reserves to cope with these unprecedented costs.”

“If this situation remains as is, there is a real risk of more not-for-profit trusts, such as ourselves, taking difficult decisions to close more facilities and services which will have a long-term, detrimental effect on the health and wellbeing of the nation as well as increasing the pressure on our already overstretched NHS.

Last year, Worcester City Council agreed to hand over up to £255,000 of taxpayers’ money to Freedom Leisure to help cover the soaring cost of gas and electricity.

The deal was sealed despite criticism from councillors who labelled the outsourced contract with Freedom Leisure a “money pit” and called for a ‘serious review’ into future agreements.