Like councils up and down the country, we’re facing our most significant financial challenge ever. Funding levels haven’t kept pace with rising costs and huge increases in demand for our services, especially those that support Leeds’ most vulnerable children and adults.
We’ve already cut costs where we can – for example, through a freeze where possible on recruitment and non-essential spend. But this isn’t enough. We estimate we’ll need to make around £106m of savings next year, nearly one fifth of our net budget. The budget proposals we’re presenting therefore include service and staffing reductions, fee increases and new charges, building closures and sales, and reduced hours of operation. None of these proposals have been put forward lightly but we have a legal duty to set a balanced budget and so need to make some difficult decisions to make the best use of the resources we have.
Crown Green Bowling:
Demand for bowling has declined by 39% since 2014 and the subsidy per bowler remains high at over £280 per bowler, without even taking into consideration the planned maintenance liability and utility bill costs. In this context the city has too many bowling greens for it to be sustainably delivered (61 bowling greens across 47 sites) with a cost to the service of over £360,000 per annum.
Our proposals look to identify ways to either:
- Reduce the overall number of managed bowling greens by closing greens, whilst ensuring that there are still good quality greens placed across the city. These managed bowling green ‘hub’ sites could be used by multiple clubs. This will deliver a net saving of £140,000 from 2025/26 with a potential budgeted reduction of 4 staff posts.
- Increase the costs recovered from crown green bowling players by £140,000 by increasing season ticket pricing and recovering the full costs of utilities.
Instructions:
It should take you about 5 to 10 minutes to answer all the questions. The last day that you can respond is 26th January. If you need to speak to someone about this survey then please email: mailto:CGBconsultation@Leeds.gov.uk
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