THE cost of using sports and leisure facilities in Blaenau Gwent is set to go up by just under seven per cent from April 1.

At a meeting of Blaenau Gwent County Borough Council’s Corporate Overview and Performance Scrutiny Committee on Monday, February 19, councillors will receive a report on how much discretionary fees and charges for 2024/2025 could rise.

The report details how much registration fees for wedding and civil partnerships, hiring of sports pitches, rooms in council buildings and even clearing up fly tipping incidents amongst dozens of charges on the council’s register are going to cost from April 1.

The report includes the detail of core price increases for using Aneurin Leisure Trust (ALT) facilities for the coming financial year.

The trust is a not-for-profit organisation established in 2014 which delivers   leisure, learning and cultural services across Blaenau Gwent and receives an annual management fee of £2.8 million from the council.

The organisation runs sports centres at Abertillery, Ebbw Vale and Tredegar, as well as Parc Bryn Bach and Bedwellty House.

Resources chief officer Rhian Hayden will recommend that councillors back a five per cent increase in fees and delegate powers to the council’s interim director of social services Tanya Evans to set fees and charges in relation to external social care.

Councillors will also be asked to recommend that Cabinet and full council approve the leisure price hikes at meetings later this month.

Ms Hayden said: “Income from fees and charges contribute £14.5 million to the overall funding the council receives to deliver its services to the residents of Blaenau Gwent.

“As a consequence of the increased costs that the council is experiencing and is expecting to continue during 2024/2025, council is asked to consider a five per cent uplift to all discretionary fees and charges in line with the proposed business case.”

The report explains that ALT have calculated their prices increases based on inflation figures from October 2023, when it was at 6.7 per cent.

The report said: “The trust has seen operational costs increase at a far higher rate than CPI (Consumer Price Index) due to a 207 per cent increase in energy costs.

“Increases have been kept at a competitive level however some prices will have risen by more than 6.7 per cent which is due to pay as you go transactions being small sums of money and therefore a small increase will have a large percentage increase.”

Some of the increases include:

  • Swimming for adults rises from £4.50 to £4.80 and from £2.25 to £2.40 for juniors;
  • Swimming concessions will rise from £2.25 to £2.40 for adults and from £1.10 to £1.20 for juniors;
  • Use of showers for adults rises from £3 to £3.20 and from £1.50 to £1.60 for juniors;
  • Use of the health suite at Ebbw Vale leisure centre will rise from £7.75 to £8.20 for adults and from £3.90 to £4.10 for pensioners;
  • Hire of squash courts for adults will also go up from £7.60 to £8.20;
  • An adult day ticket for the Angling Club will rise from £20.35 to £21.50 while a season ticket goes up from £71.55 to £75;
  • Hourly room hire rate for community groups will go up from £21.25 to £22.50 and for commercial use from £31.75 to £33.50.

Recommendations from the committee will be added to the report which is set to be discussed by the Cabinet on Wednesday, February 21 and at a full council meeting on Tuesday, February 27.