Star date: 22nd June 2017

COMMUNITY PETITIONS AGAINST LOSS OF STAFF AT SALFORD COMMUNITY LEISURE

Salford Community Leisure is proposing to axe reception staff from Ordsall Leisure Centre. A community petition from users of the centre has been launched, arguing "This will have a detrimental impact on the service we rely upon"

Meanwhile, Salford Council has plans to flatten Ordsall Leisure Centre with the land estimated to be worth up to £1.5million, and developers in the area are paying no planning fees.

Full details here...

"UNISON is disappointed that despite promises in the Council budget that there would be no reduction in Leisure Services this proposal has arisen...this will lead to inadequate staffing numbers and a poorer service for customers..."

Ordsall Leisure Centre, previously known as Fit City Ordsall, really is a kind of Custer's Last Stand for the local community. Since development went rampant along that side of Trafford Road opposite the Quays, every scrap of land has, or is, being developed.

Ordsall Leisure Centre is now hemmed in by apartments to the back, half built apartments to the side and Tesco at the front. These developers are paying no planning fees, as Salford City Council deemed this side of Trafford Road a 'mid value area' where no fees are to be paid for high density flats.

Unsurprisingly, every inch of land has now been gobbled up for development (see previous Salford Star article – click here).

In February, Salford Council, which owns Ordsall Leisure Centre, proposed its future demolition, arguing that the land was worth up to £1.5million. Instead the centre would be merged with Clarendon Leisure Centre in a new facility by Salford Precinct (see previous Salford Star article – click here)*.

While the wealth of developers and new residents is blatant for everyone to see in one of the most deprived wards in the city, Salford Community Leisure (SCL), the trust which runs the centre, is proposing to axe two members of the Ordsall Centre's reception staff to save money.

Instead, just one member of staff will man the reception during early evenings Monday to Thursday, and there will be no-one there the rest of the time. The change is in line with other pseudo-DIY gyms – except that this is a non-profit making community service.

A Save Our Receptionists petition has been signed by users of Ordsall Leisure Centre, including George Williams, who has also written to SCL...

"Every time I visit the Centre, there has always been a member of staff on duty in the Reception area" he states "Each time I go to the gym for my workout, or attend one of the classes on a Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday or the Insanity class run by Agnes on a Thursday, I am greeted by a member of the Reception staff. This has become the standard that any and all the members of the Centre expect.

"...I understand that Salford Community Sport is committed to providing its customers with the Highest Level of Service" he adds "Upon attending the Ordsall Leisure Centre I notice...there is a plaque on the wall called 'Customer Promise'...it states that 'Customers are at the heart of everything that you do and that you work hard to ensure each and every experience is the very best it can be...'

"...Should the Reception Staff job cuts go ahead, then the word 'Community', which is what I grew up with and hold its values very close, would have to be removed" he concludes.

Another of the Centre's users, Steven Sabin, wrote of the 'warm, dedicated, efficient and professional staff' who are "integral to the efficient running" of the Centre...

"Who, may I ask, will be there to meet and greet, an incredibly important function and central to the community ethos, which features so prominently in the above establishment's literature?" he writes

"Who will be there to deal with the myriad of issues, queries and questions that are so expertly handled by the current reception staff? I could cite numerous examples, both from a personal perspective, and those I am aware of, in which the reception staff have proved integral in resolving many of those issues."

He explains that the 'faceless, impersonal, digital systems' that will replace staff are "hardly an appropriate substitute, and one that totally undermines the community sentiments expressed so passionately in the establishment's 'Customer Promise' and 'Our Vision' statements...

"I fully appreciate that finances and budgets are under ever increasing pressures, and that evaluation of services needs to be undertaken from time to time to establish efficiency and value for money, but there are also greater principles at stake here, most of which are eluded to in your advertising material" he adds "I would hope you stand by your rhetoric..."

Meanwhile, Salford City UNISON, which represents staff members, is fighting the cuts... 

"Salford Community Leisure, after considerable discussion, are only willing to retain one Reception staff for peak times, early evenings Monday to Thursday, losing two members of staff" says the union's Ameen Hadi.

"UNISON is disappointed that despite promises in the Council budget that there would be no reduction in Leisure Services this proposal has arisen" he adds "The view of our UNISON members is that this will lead to inadequate staffing numbers and a poorer service for customers. We reiterate we are always ready to talk to resolve this long running dispute."

Salford Star asked SCL for a response and we are still waiting for a reply...

*The Salford Star recently attended a Salford City Council scrutiny meeting on the future of the city's leisure centres, where officers confirmed that the planned demolition of Swinton Leisure Centre and its move to a new location at Swinton Civic Centre had now been kicked into the long grass...The Swinton transformation would be "the last of our priorities" Council officers stated.

At the same meeting, Councillor David Lancaster confirmed that there would be no closure of Ordsall Leisure Centre until any new facility was built.