Leisure Services in Torfaen

It is with disappointment and sadness that the Board of Trustees of Torfaen Leisure Trust acknowledges the decision of Torfaen County Borough Council to award the contract for the provision of leisure services in the borough to Halo Leisure Services, following the recent procurement process.

TLT has faced a number of major challenges since the COVID pandemic, including substantial increases in utility costs and the National Minimum Wage, all of which has contributed to an extremely challenging financial position for the Trust.  However, we have made significant progress over the past 18 months to improve governance, deliver operational efficiencies and grow income, with more and more people using the facilities to improve their health and wellbeing. As a result, we were confident of delivering a balanced budget for 2025-2026 - a huge achievement by our staff, who have excelled during what has been a highly difficult and uncertain period for them.

As a small charitable organisation, the simple reality is that we are unable to realise the same economies of scale as larger providers. To address this, we had been working on a federated approach with a neighbouring provider.  This collaboration would have had a number of benefits, not only to the residents of Torfaen but also the wider Gwent population - leveraging shared expertise to enhance our service offering and grow our customer base, enabling us to reinvest profits directly back into the facilities within Torfaen.

While we are disappointed not to have been selected by TCBC, we are ready to support the transition to the new provider for our customers and our staff who are the bedrock of what we do. It is vital that Torfaen residents benefit from high-quality leisure facilities that are so central to improving health and wellbeing. We are proud to have served the community over the last 12 years and extend our positive well wishes to Halo Leisure as they take over this important responsibility.