Leisure centre to cut energy bills with LED lights and pool covers thanks to £348k investment

Carmelo Garcia
·2-min read
Improvements have also been made to reduce energy waste at Leisure at Cheltenham which is owned by the Borough Council but run by The Cheltenham Trust.
-Credit: (Image: Carmelo Garcia)


Cheltenham’s leisure centre will get almost £350k in investment to upgrade its lighting system and to install pool covers to reduce energy consumption and costs. Cheltenham Borough Council’s (CBC) energy budget has increased by 60 per cent since 2021/22 due to the inflationary increases in energy costs.

Almost half of the energy is used at Leisure At Cheltenham. And the council says any reduction in energy usage at the Tommy Taylors Lane leisure centre will start to reduce the pressure from these areas of the revenue budget.

Council leaders approved this week a capital investment of £264,500 to replace the existing lighting system in the leisure centre with light emitting diode (LED) technology. They expect this investment will save 24,363kg/carbon dioxide equivalent per year which equates to £29,235 in the first year.

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Cabinet also approved a £83,750 investment to install pool covers across the building. This is expected to save 60,045.5kg/CO2e per annum which equates to £31,255 in the first year.

Climate emergency cabinet member Iain Dobie (LD, College) said the proposals are in line with their environmental policies. “Both investments will reduce energy use and hence costs,” he told the cabinet meeting on June 11.

“The purchase of pool covers will generate a return on investment of 16.4 per cent. At a time of rapidly increasing energy costs and noting that almost half of CBC’s energy bill is spent on Leisure At Cheltenham this is a wise spend to save decision.

“It makes sense financially and moreover it delivers significant carbon savings and hence is on track to our declared net zero ambitions.”

Finance and assets cabinet member Alisha Lewis (LD, Oakley) said it was a really exciting bit of spending. “It’s not a massive expense but I was really surprised just how much money it could save and how many councils across the country had already done it.

“It’s a real win and thank you for the team who have gone out on the really interesting competitive tender. It’s apparently surprisingly difficult to get a swimming pool cover for our pools.

“So great work is being done in the officer team.”

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