Increased charges at Dimensions + £1 parking fees

Of all the ways the council can make money, it's decided that the best way to do it is to further tax on the healthy and further burden the people who are facing the most financial stress, from increase prices, wage freezes, cuts and redundancies.

New car park charges are being introduced to Dimensions, so every visit will cost you a £1. The main reason for doing this is because of the illegal parking. Illegal parking? Apparently there is a high amount of illegal parking? Is there?

Rewind 2 years and Dimensions was ear marked for closure, now it looks like the council are dead set to run it down again.

Cabinet approves sport and leisure charges
Stoke-on-Trent City Council’s cabinet has approved increases to admission fees at its sport and leisure facilities, as well as parking charges at two major leisure centres.

The increases for hiring facilities, including senior football pitches, should come into effect from January 2011, while the parking charges should take effect from the same time. An exact introduction date will be published later.

The increase in charges for hiring venues comes after a review of the department’s costs and the need to increase revenue in the future.

Councillor Hazel Lyth, cabinet member for adult social care, leisure and culture, said: “Finances are tight at the moment and we have to realise that increasing fees and charges is necessary in order to be able to provide our services to a good standard.

“Concessions on the cost of activities will be available those with an Energise Plus card and the Energise Plus scheme will continue. We run an excellent service and our fees and charges are comparable with those in neighbouring authorities. We would not be increasing them if we didn’t believe it to be absolutely necessary.”

“Paid up members of Shapes and Dimensions health and fitness clubs will be exempt from the parking charge and there will be provision for blue badge holders. The membership scheme offers good value for money as it means people can use those gyms and facilities on a regular basis at a nominally cheaper cost, and incorporate their parking into that fee too.”

Dimensions receives around 400,000 visits per year while Fenton Manor gets around 700,000. The city council does not currently charge people for parking at these facilities, but some other local authorities do charge for parking at some leisure centres. The charges will be £1 for three hours and £4 for three hours and over.

Examples of charges January 2011 to January 2012

Proposed Football Pitch Charges 2011/12 Season

The revised charging schedule which has been developed for the city’s football facilities is based on a simple and transparent formula as follows:

Pitch quality + changing room quality = price to be charged

There is considerable variation in the quality of both pitches and where available changing accommodation across the city’s football facilities. Whilst over the next two years funding has been made available to help address this to some extent it will not be possible to bring all facilities up to the standards of the city’s Premier site at Bradeley Football Development Centre. Due to the allocated funds it is anticipated that many of the pitches/facilities can be significantly upgraded and as a result it is desirable to create a strong link between the quality of facilities and the charges levied as this will allow for facilities to be re graded as they are enhanced and thus future years income to grow.

The grading of pitches and changing facilities has been taken from work undertaken to develop the City’s Playing Pitch Strategy as part of the 2009-16 Sport and Physical Activity Strategy as follows:

Changing Grading:

Pitch Grading:

This has allowed the following pricing bands to be established:

The pricing bands above are based on the following principals:

Ensuring that a reasonable differential exists or is introduced between each grade of pitch and changing accommodation.

Ensuring that as far as possible the revised pricing structure starts at a point equivalent to existing prices.

The removal of differential pricing between Saturday and Sunday bookings.

The proposed new pricing structure for pitches has been consulted on with the local football leagues and whilst some concerns were expressed with regards to the overall price levels the principal of changing based on the quality of facilities offered was welcomed.