EUKN - European Urban Knowledge Network - Social leisure enterprise reinvests in deprived neighbourhoods

Social leisure enterprise reinvests in deprived neighbourhoods – London, UK

Introduction

Greenwich Leisure Limited (GLL) is a social enterprise that provides leisure services in London. GLL was founded in 1993, by Greenwich Council’s Leisure Department. GLL operates mainly in deprived areas. The not-for profit organisation has succeeded in including the local population in the organisation: as customers, as employees and as owners. The cost of running the leisure facilities have dropped remarkably. Now, GLL runs over 50 leisure centres all over the London area. It is a good example of public service standards and ethics combined with an effective private-sector style delivery.

Description

GLL is an innovative staff led 'leisure trust', with a social enterprise structure. It manages over 50 leisure centres in partnership with nine London boroughs, Epsom and Ewell Borough Council and Bellingham Community Project. GLL re-invests any surpluses back into services.

GLL operates mainly in deprived areas: 63 per cent of GLL’s business areas are in the top 20 per cent of the United Kingdom’s most deprived wards. Both customers and staff reflect the profile of local populations.

Approach

GLL provides leisure facilities across London, such as swimming lessons, fitness and kids soccer training. Key elements of GLL's approach include:

Employee ownership – It is a stakeholder-run organisation. It has a board consisting of elected staff, Council members, a Trade Union representative and customers. It now has around 450 shareholders. Day-to-day management is devolved to an experienced senior management team. All staff working more than 15 hours per week can purchase one voting share and they can then stand for election to the Board or vote their colleagues onto the Board. The empowerment this provides contributes to the development of the company.
Engaging local communities - GLL's local development officers engage with local communities to maximise the use of the services and run area-based projects. GLL often works in collaboration with community organisations.
Local employment scheme - GLL runs various employment schemes aimed at recruiting unemplyed people. The London Leisure College, with which GLL has a partnership, runs vocational and academic training in the sports and leisure industry, matching skills to employers’ requirements.
Finally, to ensure accessibility for all, the leisure centres have concessionary rates for specific target groups.

Results

GLL’s business model has been very successful with local authorities because it combines public service standards and ethics with an effective private-sector style delivery. The model allows to raise private capital, take and implement decisions quickly, and act commercially but reinvest its profit in the business and the community.
A review of GLL’s operations in Greenwich demonstrated that since 1993 costs of running the service to the Council have been more than halved and turnover in the Greenwich centres has increased from 2.5 million British Pounds in 1993 to over 9 million British Pounds in 2004 (3.7 and 13.4 million euros respectively).
GLL won the Social Enterprise of the Year award at the 2005 UK National Business Awards. Greenwich Leisure Limited was one of the fastest growing businesses in the United Kingdom in 2003 and 2004.
Membership levels at the centres in Greenwich rose rapidly from an initial 7,000 at the time of the transfer (1993) to around 70,000 paid memberships in 2004.

Contact info

Greenwich Leisure Limited
Mr Steve Ward (Head of Marketing and Brands), tel. +44 20 8317 5000

Project start date

01/01/1993

Links

Visit the Greenwich Leisure Limited website Visit the London Leisure College website Learn more on GLL on the LNet website

Document type

case

Themes

Urban Policy > Economy knowledge & employment > Urban economy

Keywords

Specific sectors, Employment