Make new leisure facilities usable across the city

The problem and who is affected

Hilsea Lido has reopened and a new leisure and health centre is being built at Bransbury Park. Opening a building does not mean everyone can use it. A lido swim costs £8, the pool is unheated, public hours are mostly early morning and late afternoon, and travel options and costs from different parts of the city have not been mapped. No one publishes who uses the facilities, from which areas, or who is priced out.

Who is affected: Residents on low incomes, children and families, older and disabled people, and people without cars, especially in areas far from Hilsea and Eastney. Council taxpayers if facilities need subsidy. Schools that may use the new learner pool.

What this would change

Aim: Make sure the city’s new and restored leisure facilities can be reached and afforded by residents across Portsmouth, and show who is using them.

What success would mean: Published, regularly updated information on prices, concessions, opening hours, access and transport for each facility, and anonymised use by area and concession type, so gaps can be seen and acted on. No participation target is proposed until a baseline exists.

The council, as owner, would ask operators to publish one clear access page per facility: prices and concessions, hours, accessible features and how to get there by bus, bike or Pompey Link. It would ask operators to report quarterly use by postcode district and concession type, with small numbers suppressed. Before Bransbury opens, it would publish the operating model, prices and concession scheme. Pricing or hours changes would be considered only after the data show who is missing and the cost is known.

Proposed lead: Portsmouth City Council (proposed; as facility owner and contracting authority). Partners: Sea Lanes and South Downs Leisure (Hilsea Lido operator), BH Live (operator of council leisure centres), Bransbury Park operator (not yet confirmed), Portsmouth public health, Bus operators and Community First (Pompey Link), NHS primary care (Bransbury GP surgery).

Powers: The council owns Hilsea Lido and is building Bransbury Park (hilsea-lido-council, bransbury-page). Operators run the facilities and set prices within their agreements; the agreements were not reviewed, so the council’s power to require data, prices or hours is unknown. The council runs the Portsmouth Leisure Card (leisure-card-overview). As transport authority it can plan bus links but bus routes are run by commercial operators in partnership (ltp4-amr-2026).

Options

• Current approach: Current approach. Operators publish their own prices and hours; the Leisure Card gives discounts to eligible residents; no use data are published.
• Proposed response: Access information plus anonymised use reporting. One access page per facility and quarterly use by postcode district and concession type, published by the council.
• Alternative: Targeted access offer. Fund extra concession sessions, free swims or transport for specific groups, such as school holiday sessions for children on free school meals. Needs costing and evidence of who is missing.
• Alternative: Wider leisure card eligibility. Extend the leisure card to more residents. Would reduce operator income or need council subsidy; not costed.

Further appraisal may change the choice because operator contracts, the cost of any concession or transport offer, and current use patterns are not known.

Delivery plan

A first practical step: Ask Sea Lanes and BH Live what anonymised use data they already hold by postcode district and concession type.

Costs and funding

One-off costs

Not costed. Publishing access information and setting up data returns.

Recurring costs

Not costed. Any extra concessions, sessions or transport would be recurring costs.

Capital or revenue

This proposal is mainly revenue. Construction budgets (£7.6m for the lido; Bransbury total not published) are capital and do not pay for access or running costs.

Funding status

No funding identified for access measures.

Affordability

Not assessed. The council says Bransbury is designed to run with minimal financial support, so new subsidies would need a source.

Costing still needed

Obtain operator income by ticket type to estimate the cost of extra concessions; cost staff time for reporting; check whether existing BSIP or active travel funds already cover transport links.

Benefits, risks and trade-offs

Possible benefits: Better information could raise use by people who do not know about concessions or transport. Use data would show whether public investment reaches all areas. Health benefits are not quantified.

Risks:

• Operators may resist publishing commercial data or changing prices.
• Discounts could reduce operator income and need council subsidy.
• Small numbers by area could identify individuals if not suppressed.
• Pompey Link, which serves the lido, may end when pilot funding stops.
• An unheated pool and short hours may limit use whatever the price.

Who could gain or lose: Low-income residents, families and disabled people stand to gain most from clear concessions and transport. Full-price users could face higher prices if concessions are funded internally. Areas far from Hilsea and Eastney may still be under-served.

Capacity: The council leisure team manages contracts but no dedicated access or data post was identified. Operators run booking systems that could produce the data.

How to judge progress

Reassess when: Reassess when Bransbury Park’s operator and prices are published, after the first full year of the reopened lido, or if Pompey Link funding ends.

Where things stand

What is known:

• Hilsea Lido is open, run by Sea Lanes with South Downs Leisure, after a £7.6m government-funded renovation.
• Standard and leisure card lido prices are published.
• Bransbury Park is under construction, scheduled to finish in winter 2027.
• The leisure card gives discounts to residents on means-tested benefits.
• Pompey Link serves Hilsea Lido.

What is not known:

• Who uses the facilities, from which areas.
• Lido concession prices for under-24s, over-60s and disabled people.
• The total Bransbury budget, its operator and its prices.
• What operator contracts allow the council to require.
• Whether the planned 2025 indoor facilities assessment was published.
• Accessibility of changing rooms, toilets and routes beyond pool entry.

Decisions needed:

• Whether to ask operators for anonymised use data.
• Bransbury Park pricing and concession policy before opening.
• Whether to fund any targeted access offer, and from what budget.

Existing work:

• Hilsea Lido renovation and reopening: Open; operated by Sea Lanes with South Downs Leisure (as of 2026-11-02).
• Bransbury Park leisure and healthcare hub: Under construction since early 2026; completion scheduled winter 2027 (as of 2026-03-25).
• Portsmouth Leisure Card: Operating (as of 2026-11-02).
• Free swimming for under-12s at BH Live pools in Portsmouth: Operating (as of 2026-11-02).
• Pompey Link on-demand bus pilot (serves Hilsea Lido): Operating; funded to March or May 2027 (as of 2026-10-05).

Next review: When the Bransbury Park operator and prices are announced, or one year after the lido reopening date is confirmed.. Evidence last checked 2026-11-02.

Sources

Where earlier ideas went

• accessible-leisure (earlier 12-point plan): expanded. accessible-leisure Not carried forward: Nothing dropped. The £7.75m Linear Park line and the £1m football facilities line were not rechecked and stay labelled as retained, unverified figures.