ASHINGTON LEISURE CENTRE RECEIVES GLOWING INDUSTRY REVIEW

Ashington Leisure Centre, managed by Active Northumberland, has passed Sport England’s toughest quality assessment Quest with flying colours.

The leisure centre was rated as ‘Very Good’ following the assessment, the best-known improvement programme within the leisure industry. Out of 59 Active leisure sites that have undertaken the same assessment, Ashington sat fourth nationally, a fantastic achievement for the local leisure centre.

The scheme is designed to measure how effective leisure and sports facilities and organisations are at providing customer service, delving into how well a facility is operating.

It looks at the operation of the business (such as maintenance, cleaning and health and safety), the people (such as customer experience and the team dynamics) and the purpose (such as how the facility plans to improve, and how it engages with the community surrounding it). The assessment was made up of two parts, a mystery visit to each centre and a two-day assessment at each centre.

Mark Warnes, chief executive of Active Northumberland said: “We have taken part in Quest because it is an ongoing improvement programme that benefits our customers, staff, and partners. The team have worked extremely hard to gain this nationally recognised accreditation, which demonstrates how committed we all are in providing a quality and valued service for our customers.”

Northumberland County Councillor Jeff Watson, cabinet member for healthy lives said: “The rigorous assessments carried out through Quest challenge some of the best leisure centres in the UK and I am delighted the team at Active Northumberland have achieved a Very Good outcome.

This is testament to the fantastic level of quality facilities and service the team consistently strives to deliver.”

The assessor noted that the Active Northumberland team appeared to place a high priority on providing consistent quality customer service. The overall condition of the facility was very good but the standards of cleanliness and hygiene throughout

“Out of 59 Active Leisure sites, Ashington sat fourth nationally, a fantastic achievement for the local leisure centre” the facility during the unannounced visit were exemplary.

The assessor also highlighted the mental health and wellbeing policy that was in place across the company with staff receiving regular updates and specific training to ensure they had an acceptable understanding of these critical issues. The Ashington Leisure Centre team members were said to be knowledgeable, very welcoming, friendly, and professional.

The centre was also praised for its inclusivity with good access, blue badge parking, automatic doors, lifts, low level desks, accessible equipment and changing facilities all noted.

Ashington Leisure Centre is open 7 days a week and boasts an extensive gym, with Technogym equipment, a 6 lane 25 metre swimming pool, a learner pool, a thermal spa with an extensive range of services, an 8 court sports hall, a dedicated cycle studio, a three storey safari themed soft play and a cafe.

For full details, membership options, opening hours and latest news please visit www. activenorthumberland.org.uk/ find-your-centre/ashington-leisurecentre/