Keighley leisure centre set to reopen after £900,000 refurbishment
A leisure centre which closed for repairs and a refurbishment scheme is set to reopen next month, Bradford Council confirmed. The Leisure Centre in Keighley closed in February to allow work on the £900,000 project to take place, including electrical improvements and the fitting of solar panels. The work was funded in part by the government's national swimming pool support fund.In an email to local residents, the local authority said the leisure centre would be open again from 30 June.
The pool, gym and sports classes at the centre on Hard Ings Road have been unavailable for the past four months.A limited number of activities have continued at the neighbouring Victoria Hall.
Listen to highlights from West Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, catch up with the latest episode of Look North.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Daily Mail
21 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Folly of funny money deals: A market solution would be best for Thames Water, says ALEX BRUMMER
As a long-standing critic of private equity pillage, I should be cheering from the rooftops at the decision by KKR to pull out of its proposed rescue of Thames Water. Yet given the ghastly legacy of financial ownership and the hopelessness of the Starmer Government on commercial decisions, KKR almost looked like a white knight. The pledge by the global investment firm to inject £4billion of equity to stabilise the balance sheet of Britain's biggest water utility, and to return the company to the stock exchange in ten years, was as good an option as this ill-fated company was likely to receive. For KKR to get the deal done it required various forces to be aligned. The management of Thames, the existing creditors, the regulator Ofwat, the Government and the political background. Each time a pact with one party looked attainable, another problem arose. Down the decades, KKR deservedly has taken political punishment for its alleged profiteering at the expense of shareholders, customers, and other stakeholders. The original 'Barbarians at the Gate', dating from its deal for RJR Nabisco back in 1988, it has a history of plunder. Its ownership of Toys R Us ended in the bankruptcy courts. In more recent times, the Wall Street group has focused on long-term investment through infrastructure. This was the mechanism proposed by Thames Water. When the proposition was put to KKR's global investment committee by its British and European principals, it received the thumbs down. Fear of the opprobrium, which came recently from the Commons when MPs tore into potential bonus arrangements and sewage discharges, played a role in the decision to pull out. It was serendipity that KKR's decision emerged on the day that former Bank of England deputy-governor Sir Jon Cunliffe produced his report on the water industry. He found 'deep-rooted systemic' problems and argued for a 'fundamental reset'. Of all the regulators designed to patrol key utilities post privatisation, Ofwat has been the most useless. None of the water utilities deserve credit for their record on keeping the nation's beaches and waterways free of sewage and industrial waste. There are clear differences between the performance of providers such as United Utilities and Severn Trent, which have remained listed companies, and those which were sold to rapacious financiers. Thames and Southern Water are the most notorious examples. In both cases, equity finance was largely replaced by leverage, borrowing and debts, and the lifeblood was sucked out of the enterprises by interest payments and dividends. These often were paid to entities in offshore tax havens. Putting water to one side for a moment, that is what is so frustrating about the recent sale of the Royal Mail-owner International Distribution Services to a financial buyer, Daniel Kretinsky. The only hope for that deal is Ofcom, which has a far better reputation as a regulator. Nevertheless, one suspects the Universal Service Obligation, and a reasonably priced first-class post, are not the priorities of the buyer. The Labour Government was played by Kretinsky in much the same way as it was forced into an expensive rescue of Chinese-owned British Steel. Any notion that Thames Water would be better run as a nationalised industry needs to be disabused. It took 17 years for the Treasury to free itself from ownership of NatWest. A market solution must be the best approach. Otherwise, a bloated government balance sheet will be burdened with this spoilt asset for decades. Red card The love affair of US entrepreneurs, private equity and showbiz for Premier League football is not simply admiration for the beautiful game. The American tax code allows owners of professional teams to write off the entire value of players as 'intangible assets' against tax. If the House of Representatives' tax plan eventually receives assent, future owners (who are taxed on worldwide income) will lose this advantage. The impact on the value of sports franchises, on both sides of the Atlantic, could potentially be catastrophic.
Daily Mail
21 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Cartier, Victoria's Secret and North Face become the latest retailers to be hacked
Cartier, Victoria's Secret and North Face have become the latest retailers to be hacked. The revelations follow attacks on firms including Marks & Spencer, the Co-op, Harrods and Dior in recent weeks. Jewellery and watch maker Cartier told customers that 'an unauthorised party gained temporary access' to its system and 'obtained limited client information'. No passwords, credit card details or bank information were compromised in the attack. North Face emailed some customers saying it discovered a 'small-scale' attack in April this year. Lingerie maker Victoria's Secret said a security incident relating to its IT systems led it to shut its website for a few days last week.
Daily Mail
22 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
KKR abandons £4bn rescue of Thames Water: Nationalisation now looms for debt-ridden firm
Thames Water's future is in doubt after a US private equity giant abandoned a £4billion rescue plan. KKR walked away from the investment deal, partly due to growing concerns over political interference from the Labour Government. The decision is a major setback for the debt-riddled utility firm's scramble to avoid nationalisation. Environment Secretary Steve Reed said the Government was 'keeping a close eye' on the situation and is ready for 'any eventuality', which could include a taxpayer-funded bailout. But Thames Water – which is struggling under £20billion of debt – refused to confirm whether it would scrap executive bonuses despite the fresh financial hurdles. Only last week, industry regulator Ofwat fined the firm a record £123million for sewage spills and paying 'undeserved' dividends to shareholders. New York-based KKR had been chosen as the UK's biggest water supplier's so-called preferred partner in March. Bosses last year launched a search for a buyer after its former owners, including pension and sovereign wealth funds, said the company was 'uninvestable' – plunging the debt-laden firm into crisis. But after completing due diligence checks, KKR said it 'will not be in a position to proceed' with the takeover. The buyout firm was worried about potential future policy changes that could impact the running of the company. Tough government rhetoric over the water industry also spooked the firm, reports said. Thames Water yesterday stated it will hold talks with Ofwat and other stakeholders over a backup turnaround plan devised by its senior creditors. Chairman Sir Adrian Montague said KKR's decision was 'disappointing'. He added: 'We continue to believe that a sustainable recapitalisation of the company is in the best interests of all stakeholders and continue to work with our creditors and stakeholders to achieve that.' However, it fuelled fears that the Government may be forced to take control of Thames Water, which serves 16m households in London and the South East. Reed told LBC Radio yesterday that 'Thames itself remains stable'. But MPs on the Environment Select Committee, which last month grilled the utility's bosses over plans to pay themselves huge bonuses, sounded the alarm over the future of Thames Water. Chairman Alistair Carmichael said: 'In May we raised concerns that Thames had only pursued one bidder at an early stage for its takeover bid, against the wishes of Ofwat, and highlighted the risks this could pose if KKR chose not to proceed. Unfortunately our concerns have been realised, putting Thames in a perilous position.' A company spokesman refused to confirm whether the payout proposals would be scrapped entirely after the KKR deal collapsed. South West Water owner plunges South West Water's owner reported widening losses following a parasite outbreak in Devon – while hiking water bills this year would help fund its £3.2billion investment plans. Pennon reported a pre-tax loss of £72.7million for the year to the end of March, widening from the £9.1million loss reported last year. Last year's incident in Brixham cost it about £21million, pushing it deeper into an annual loss, a spokesman said. An outbreak of cryptosporidium – a parasite that causes infection – in the water supply left some in hospital. More than 100 others reported symptoms including diarrhoea. Bills for South West Water customers rose by 28 per cent on average from April. Pennon said the rise would help fund around a third of its investments.
