Petition to improve sports centre

A petition has been started calling for improvements in the running of one of Bristol's newest sports complexes.

The Horfield Leisure Centre opened in 2005 at a cost of £8m and some customers claim the facilities are not what were promised by the council.

At least two instructors have resigned and it is claimed that other members of staff are unhappy with management.

The council said the centre passed national standards for level of service and value for money.

In 2006, Bristol City Council sub-contracted the running of eight of the city's leisure centres and pools to Sports and Leisure Management Limited (SLM).

'Staff unhappy'

Rachel Evans has been an aerobics instructor for about 15 years but resigned from the centre at the end of August.

She said: "Overall the staff are quite unhappy at the moment.

"A lot of people have actually said to me on different occasions that morale on different sites is quite actually low.

"I've frequented the sites both as a customer and as a teacher and I don't do either any more.

"I think SLM need to look at how they look after the sites on behalf of the whole of the Bristol community and not just for their own ends as it appears to be."

Bristol City Council and SLM say that nearly half a million people used Horfield Leisure Centre last year and remind customers that there is a complaints procedure in place so that improvements can be made.