Stressful time for Edinburgh's Mr Leisure

Budget cuts, crèche closures, Meadowbank . . Keith Jackson certainly has his hands full at the moment.

IT's something to do with coming from the north of England, or so he claims, but Keith Jackson hates to give away anything about himself. It's labelled "private".

So here's just a taster of what the chief executive of Edinburgh Leisure doesn't want you to know: he's 54, he was briefly a PE teacher, and he likes to read books by fellow Cumbrian Melvyn Bragg.

While you reel in shock from such revelations – he'll no doubt be cringing – here's what he does want you to know: in the ten years of its operation Edinburgh Leisure has gone from scratch to a turnover of £24 million, has reduced its subsidy from the council from 50 per cent to 30 per cent, has seen staff figures rise from 600 to 750, has invested £15m in services, and now has over 3.9 million customers.

In the past few months, though, his organisation has had its most turbulent period yet. A cut of £300,000 from its £8m Edinburgh City Council budget resulted in the announcement of leisure centre crèche closures, which in turn prompted vocal public protest.

"It has been the most difficult time we've had," concedes Jackson. "But it's all been because of financial pressures. We've had to make £400,000 in total savings, and it would be wrong to blame that solely on the council as we've got our own pressures as well.

"We're always looking at the budget so we always know what the expensive services are and by far and away, it's the crèches. It's the most expensive service we offer, so it's the one we've had to look at."

It's the second time Edinburgh Leisure has been forced to close crèches – budget cuts back in 2001 saw the end of facilities at Leith Waterworld, the Jack Kane Centre and Dalry Swim Centre.

This time round, after public protest, the six originally earmarked for closure has been reduced to four. As a result, crèches in Kirkliston, Craiglockhart, Leith Victoria and the Royal Commonwealth Pool will all be lost.

Those in Ainslie Park, Drumbrae, Portobello and Gracemount will all remain open, although the cost to use them will rise by £2.

He admits it's been a tough decision, but says he was prepared for the protests.

"It's a very emotional issue. We never denied that closing the crèches would have a detrimental impact on some people, and we're not disputing it will predominantly hit young mums. But the sole reason for the decision is financial."

He points to the hard figures. There's a £13 subsidy for every single visit to the crèches – that's more than the subsidy for visits to Leith Waterworld – and adds: "When we make these decisions we're accused of being too commercial, but we've got a fiscal responsibility as well.

"We're not anti-crèche, anti-children or anti-mums. I would hope that those who used Leith Victoria, will now go to Ainslie Park or Portobello.

"It's the same on the Southside, rather than using the Commonwealth or Craiglockhart, they could use Gracemount. OK, it's not ideal, but we had to be realistic."

Having to deal with such public reaction has put Jackson very much on the defensive. He positively bristles when asked how much a staff bash celebrating the tenth birthday is going to cost – some estimates have put it at as much as £250,000.

"It is not costing that," he says, his right leg jumping temperamentally under the desk. "We're ten years old and I wanted to do something with the staff to recognise their contribution to our success. The idea went to the board and it was decided to have an awards evening, and it gave authority to spend £20,000.

"We thought we'd get 300-350 staff coming because it's a Saturday night and the centres will be open, so people will be working, but about 470 staff have said they want to come. So costs have gone up to £28,000, but the difference is coming from the Christmas fund.

"It's not a night of free booze. We'll be giving out 20 awards based on our values. We've never done anything like this for staff before – and they deserve it." The jumpy leg stops.

Edinburgh Leisure began trading on April 1, 1998, and was set up with the aim of saving the council money. Jackson believes it's doing this, and will continue to take pressure off council taxpayers in the future, even when some centres, such as the Edinburgh International Climbing Arena at Ratho, are running at a loss. It lost £830,000 this year, and it's likely it will lose £400,000 in 2008-9, although Jackson is confident it will break even by 2011.

"Two thirds of our money is made by people coming through the door, but we couldn't do without the council's funding. The subsidy for every user used to be in excess of £2. Now it's £1.88," he says. "We started with nothing in the bank but we've seen 14 per cent annual growth, while the UK leisure market has stagnated. From my perspective we've probably exceeded most people's expectations."

He is at pains to point out that Edinburgh Leisure is not an arms-length council company, like EDI, but completely independent, although the two have to work in partnership.

"Five directors out of 15 are councillors, they're not in the majority so don't have the ability to veto anything. We achieve a lot by dialogue."

It's not always been an easy relationship though. Two years ago the chairman Professor Fred Coalter resigned, again over budget issues. He complained Edinburgh Leisure was "persuaded" to spend £500,000 to help out facilities like Leith Waterworld, which were losing money.

Jackson is reluctant to talk about that period, saying only that Coalter had always intended to resign, but left earlier because of his "frustration". Jackson is careful not to reveal any similar feeling he may have – perhaps something which stems from being the former assistant director of recreation services on the council before Edinburgh Leisure was established.

His career began when he qualified as a PE teacher, but after four years he returned to university to study leisure management. A career in English local authorities followed, and he moved to Edinburgh in the early 90s.

He's not keen on people knowing he qualified in PE, because they make "assumptions", he says. In fact, he's not keen to reveal much about himself at all. For a 54-year-old though he's in pretty good nick, thanks no doubt to a regime of swimming, running and gym workouts, at least six times a week, and always at Edinburgh Leisure facilities.

He says he takes a "dim view" of staff using private clubs. "The private sector doesn't cater for everyone – for a start you have to join. If you wanted to go for a swim, you could go to the Commonwealth Pool right now and get in," he says. "I go swimming there every week."

Which means he's more than aware of its problems. "I can watch staff scrubbing the tiles and see no difference. It's frustrating for them, but the place isn't dirty, it's just that the tiles are 40 years old. Most of the complaints we receive are about the Commonwealth or Meadowbank because they're old and no longer fit for purpose."

That will change with the Commonwealth Pool closing next year for a £37m revamp, and the £25m plans for a new, scaled-down Meadowbank. "There's been a lot of investment in facilities," he says. "We've invested £15m ourselves over the ten years.

"Health and fitness by far and away has been the biggest growth area, and there are 10-12,000 people a week on courses like tennis or swimming or golf. Use of our facilities by young people has grown by 75 per cent in the last ten years, and in the last three years, use by older people has grown by 25 per cent.

"For me the last ten years is a success story."