By John Baron
A grant of over £207,000 has been awarded to improve the energy efficiency of two popular West Leeds leisure facilities.
Council-run Pudsey Leisure Centre has received £125,000 from Sport England for plant room insulation and additional metering and monitoring software.
And community led Bramley Baths has received £82,230 to install photo voltaic panels and metering and monitoring software at its Grade II Listed Edwardian building in Broad Lane.
Bramley Baths CEO David Wilford welcomed the grant. He said: “The work will help our sustainability and provide 34% of our electricity usage, reducing our carbon footprint as well as our electricity bills. Any reduction is a big help to us as energy forms a big part of our costs.”
He said work will also be carried out on the Baths’ roof to enable it to take the extra weight of the panels, and a planning application will be submitted in due course.
The bid for the Sport England cash has been administered via Leeds City Council. A council report said: “Pudsey Leisure Centre is currently undergoing energy improvement works through the council’s decarbonisation scheme, and these additional works will enhance the [improvements] further.
“The impact of accepting the grant from Sport England will help to improve energy efficiency at both Pudsey Leisure Centre and Bramley Baths to help reduce energy consumption of the building and in particular the swimming pools, which are the main drain on energy use at the sites.
“Reducing the consumption of utilities namely through gas and electricity in heating the pools will help to lower the operation cost of the buildings and importantly help towards the council’s ‘net zero carbon’ target.”
The money needs to be spent by the end of March 2025.
Bramley Baths is currently operated by Bramley Baths Community Ltd with a long-term lease, however the building is still owned by Leeds City Council
The full council report can be read in full here.
