More than 800 came to Saturday's open day marking a £175,000 gym refurbishment. Council papers show the sauna and play area came from developer money.

More than 800 people came through Stratford Leisure Centre on Saturday for a free community open day, marking the end of a £175,000 gym refurbishment. The day raised over £500 for the Ben Kinsella Trust, the charity partner of the centre’s operator.

Team GB sprinter Harry Aikines-Aryeetey ran a gym challenge with families and members, and signed autographs. Activities were free, with a charity donation taken at booking.

The programme on the day included:

  • group exercise classes and personal training tasters
  • family swimming
  • Hyrox, badminton, pickleball and table tennis
  • soft play, Active Antz, Ninja Tag and a roller disco

The gym has been fitted with new Life Fitness equipment for functional training, resistance and cardio work. The centre is run by Everyone Active in partnership with Stratford-on-Avon District Council.

Where the money for the building has come from

The £175,000 gym refit is the operator’s investment. The other recent work at the centre is the council’s, and its capital budget monitoring report, published for Cabinet on 7 September, shows where two of those figures came from.

Both are section 106 money, the contributions developers pay when housing schemes get planning permission, tied in these cases to built facilities at Stratford Leisure Centre specifically:

  • £74,935 on play equipment at the leisure centre, under agreement I20782
  • £18,084 on the sauna refurbishment, under agreements 231-1027 and I20782

Both lines are recorded as fully spent, with nothing left in either budget.

Recent spending at Stratford Leisure Centre and on the district's leisure centre solar programme Horizontal bar chart of four figures. The leisure centre solar panel programme across Stratford, Shipston, Studley and Southam has a budget of 395,950 pounds and spending to date of 419,118 pounds. The gym refurbishment cost 175,000 pounds and was funded by the operator. Play equipment at Stratford Leisure Centre cost 74,935 pounds from section 106 developer contributions. The sauna refurbishment cost 18,084 pounds, also from section 106. Four leisure figures in the council's September papers Bar length is proportional to spend. Funders differ, and are named on each bar. Solar panels, four leisure centres £419,118 Sport England lottery grant and Climate Change Reserve Gym refurbishment, Stratford £175,000 Everyone Active Play equipment, Stratford £74,935 Section 106 Sauna refurbishment, Stratford £18,084, from section 106 Source: Stratford-on-Avon District Council capital budget monitoring, periods 1 to 4, 2026/27, Cabinet 7 September 2026; Everyone Active and the district council for the gym figure. Graphic by Stratford Avon News
The gym refit is the operator's money. The rest is public and developer funding, and the solar line is the largest of the four.

The solar programme is over budget, and Southam is waiting until 2027

The same report carries a bigger and less comfortable leisure number. The solar panel scheme across the district’s leisure centres has a budget of £395,950 and has now spent £419,118, which leaves the line £23,169 over.

The report splits the funding. The 2024/25 phase at Stratford and Shipston came from a Sport England lottery grant. The 2025/26 phase at Southam and Studley came from the council’s Climate Change Reserve.

Two things follow from that entry, and neither is in the council’s news release:

  • Stratford and Shipston are finished. The report records both as complete, with an £8,000 accrual still to be invoiced for retention at Stratford.
  • Southam is postponed to summer 2027, because the roof needs additional work first. Studley’s part has been invoiced.

The report attributes part of the overspend to project management fees that the original budget left out, because the work was expected to be done in house. That cost is being met from the council’s project implementation budget.

What it means for you

If you use Stratford Leisure Centre, the gym equipment, sauna, steam room, cycle studio and soft play are the parts that have changed in the past year. The centre is on Bridgeway, a short walk from the town centre across Bridgefoot, and its own car park sits under the solar arrays.

If you use Southam Leisure Centre, the solar panels you may have been told to expect are not coming until summer 2027.

And if you have ever wondered where section 106 money from a local housing scheme actually lands, the sauna and the play equipment at Stratford are two traceable answers, both tied by agreement to that building.

Sources

Figures are as published in the council’s own monitoring report and may be revised at the next quarter. We could not independently confirm the £175,000 gym figure, which comes from the council and operator’s joint announcement rather than from a published account.