The Woking Council Executive was scheduled to meet on Wednesday 3 September 2025 to discuss a leisure management contract award, and a number of other matters. Much of the meeting was scheduled to be held behind closed doors due to the commercially sensitive nature of the information to be discussed.

Leisure Management Contract

The Executive was asked to consider a report regarding the award of a contract for the management of the council's leisure centres. Louise Strongitharm, Strategic Director - Communities, was scheduled to present the report.

The report recommended that the Executive recommend to the council that:

• a contract be awarded to the highest scoring tenderer for an initial period of ten years, with the option to extend for two further periods of five years
• authority be delegated to the Strategic Director - Communities and the Director of Legal and Democratic Services, in consultation with the Portfolio Holder, to take all necessary steps to enact the decision, including entering into relevant contracts.

The council was looking to secure contract arrangements for the management of its leisure centres beyond the end of the current contract, which was due to expire on 30 November 2025. The report stated that there were no grounds to extend the current contract further, and therefore the council had re-tendered the contract to ensure the services could continue to be delivered for a term of 10 years from 1 December 2025.

The contract scope included the operation and management of Woking's four leisure centres: Woking Leisure Centre, Pool in the Park, Woking Sportsbox and Eastwood Leisure Centre.

The Sport, Leisure and Culture Consultancy (SLC) supported the procurement process, and Freeths LLP provided specialist legal support.

The report noted that a new unitary authority¹ was likely to replace the council during the contract term, given the length of the proposed contract and the intended timescales of the parallel Local Government Reorganisation process.

The procurement strategy set out the council's approach to the procurement. The Portfolio Holder for Leisure was briefed on the draft procurement strategy for this project, and their feedback was captured to help shape the final version.

The final procurement strategy included:

• Scope of services: to include the four leisure centres only. The management of pavilions and outdoor sports pitches to be removed as this would be picked up by community organisations within the council's Community Asset Transfer (CAT) scheme.
• Contract Term: baseline bid of 10 years, plus up to two additional optional 5 year extensions. Variant bid of 15 years, plus one optional 5-year extension to be tested during the Invitation to Submit Initial Tenders stage.
• Procurement route: Combined the Invite to Submit Initial Tenders (ISIT) and Standard Selection Questionnaire (SSQ) phases, followed by negotiation and then a final stage; Invite to Submit Revised Tenders (ISRT) due to the compressed project timeline.
• Investments: It was decided that due to the council's financial position, it would not be able to offer any borrowing or investment options for bidders to use. However, if bidders wished to put forward their own investment proposals, this would be accepted.

A shared risk approach was taken for utilities with the Operator taking the risk on consumption levels and the council taking the risk of future tariff increases for consumption up to target levels.

The Service Specification also set out the council's three key strategic objectives in relation to the new contract:

a. Ensure leisure services are financially sustainable and delivering best value for residents, working towards achieving a self-funding service model.

b. Support residents to live healthy, active and fulfilling lives by providing access to a range of inclusive and affordable opportunities to be physically active and socially engaged within their community.

c. Optimise the value of the Council's leisure assets and services through delivery of high-quality employment and training opportunities, improved and well-maintained facilities and wider social value.

The council hosted a 'Bidders Day' at Eastwood Leisure Centre on 27 January 2025, with numerous operators taking the opportunity to attend. The Portfolio Holder for Leisure opened the presentation for the opportunity, highlighting some background to the contract and the council's ambitions with the upcoming procurement exercise.

The report stated that the recommendation was for the council to award the contract to the tenderer with the highest scoring bid as set out in the confidential report in Part II of the agenda.

Some of the preferred bidder benefits included:

i. A neighbourhood-based Active Wellbeing programme targeting inactive residents in deprived ward areas in non-traditional settings.

ii. An increased focus on reducing consumption and sustainability initiatives.

iii. Several bidder committed capital investments to improve the facilities.

iv. Significant Social Value return created through the contract.

v. Relevant experience of mobilising and delivering contracts of this size.

Exclusion of Press and Public

The agenda included a motion to exclude the press and public from the meeting during consideration of item 8, the Leisure Management Contract Award, due to the nature of the proceedings. It was stated that if members of the press and public were present during this item, there would be disclosure to them of exempt information as defined in paragraph 3 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A, to the Local Government Act 1972².

Paragraph 3 relates to information relating to the financial or business affairs of any particular person (including the authority holding that information).