Rushcliffe Borough Council will explore options at a Cabinet Meeting on Tuesday 13 July.
A report seeks approval for the closure of the indoor bowls facility in its current format, and a basic conversion of the space to enable uses such as short mat bowls, group exercise and events, both sporting and non-sporting, to serve a wider demographic of users and further support the leisure industry post Covid.
The conversion is estimated to cost around £60,000.
The council is offering further support to remaining Bowls Club members including exploring the introduction of short mat bowls at the Arena.
In its reasons for the recommendation to Cabinet, the report states:
‘Rushcliffe Indoor Bowls Club who are the primary users of the indoor bowls hall have struggled to increase membership since the new Arena was built despite best efforts, the support of Lex Leisure and the Council’s Sports Development Officer.
‘They face the challenge of declining numbers, a largely ageing demographic and an inability to break even.’
‘Indoor bowls appeals to a relatively small demographic with only a small number of members (around 170) benefiting from the space. This leaves the hall empty for large parts of the year, unlike the other sports hall which enables a vast array of clubs and users to benefit from the space for a multitude of uses.’
‘As well as supporting the return of a greater number of leisure users, it should be noted that bowls income generated from casual play, equipment hire and memberships prior to Coronavirus generated £25k of income/annum compared to £70k generated by the sports hall.’
‘Whilst recognising the adverse effect on the Bowls Club by converting the area to a more multi use facility, such a conversion would support the wider return of users and would be in line with the Council’s current Leisure Facilities Strategy vision “to provide high quality, financially sustainable leisure facilities to support Rushcliffe residents to enjoy healthy active lives.’
In the 1990s membership of the bowls club topped 1,000 members.
The Club has struggled to increase membership since returning to the new Arena despite the significant support of Lex Leisure and the Council’s Sport’s Development Officer, dropping from 377 members in 2009 to 285 prior to the old Arena closing in 2015, and peaking at 169 for the most recent 2019/20 season.
The report goes on to sat that there is a strong feeling, expressed by the Bowls Club Committee itself, that the Club would be unable to continue at another venue and would likely cease.
Members would, and already have, joined other local clubs and leagues at other venues, stopped playing or partake in outdoor bowls only.
That said, there was an understanding by the Committee as to why a large space was untenable to retain from a strategic perspective as a facility for such a small number of people when it could be serving a wider demographic and an acceptance that Coronavirus has had a negative impact on their memberships with members being nervous of being in indoor spaces or having fallen out of the habit of indoor bowling.
