Cheltenham leisure centre to cut energy bills
The centre will install LED lights and pool covers to cut costs.
Cheltenham’s leisure centre will get almost £350,000 in investment to upgrade its lighting system and to install pool covers to reduce energy consumption and costs.
Cheltenham Borough Council’s energy budget has increased by 60% since 2021/22 due to the increases in energy costs caused by inflation.
Almost half of the energy is used at Leisure At Cheltenham. And the council says any reduction in energy usage at the leisure centre will start to reduce the pressure from these areas of the revenue budget.
This week the council approved a £264,500 investment to replace the existing lighting system in the leisure centre with LEDs.
It is expected this will save £29,235 in the first year.
A further £83,750 investment to install pool covers across the building has also been approved. It is expected this will save over £31,000 in the first year.
Climate emergency cabinet member Iain Dobie said the proposals are in line with their environmental policies.
He said: "Both investments will reduce energy use and hence costs. 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 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."