Community organisations team up to take on former leisure centre

Article date: 4 June 2026

A collaboration between the Standing Tall Foundation and Saints Community Sport CIC has been confirmed as the party recommended to take up the lease of the former Broadway Leisure Centre as part of St Helens Borough Council's Community Asset Transfer policy.

Community Asset Transfer is a process that allows community organisations to take over council-owned land or buildings, enabling them to play a more active role in helping deliver a better borough.

Lisa Harris, Executive Director for Place Services, said: "We are delighted to be able to move forward with the plans to transfer this facility back into the hands of community groups who are committed to delivering a range of services for our residents. Through our Community Asset Transfer policy we have a transparent process in place to help us choose the suitable organisations who have proven they have a robust business model in place to be able to deliver their services from the land and/or buildings. These two organisations coming together have demonstrated a clear commitment to the community and that will unlock great opportunities for residents across the borough."

The former Broadway Leisure Centre is the last location of the first tranche of sites that have been through the community asset transfer process, with Bishop Road Playing Field in Windlehurst and King George V Playing Fields in Earlestown having been approved for community leases last year.

The Broadway opportunity had initially received several bids when first put forward last year but individually these did not meet the published criteria; however, subsequent collaboration between two of those bidders - The Standing Tall Foundation and Saints Community Sport CIC - has achieved a successful outcome.

The formal process to hand the lease of the site over will now start after Cabinet approved the proposals at its meeting on Wednesday, 3rd June.