STROUD MP Siobhan Baillie has vowed to help the District Council secure funds for local leisure centres so they can continue to promote healthy living.

Stroud District Council asked Ms Baillie to raise with government how Covid has affected leisure centres and Stroud's MP says she is pleased to see the announcement that a pot of £100 million will be available to help centres.

Ms Baillie said: “Leisure centres like Stratford Park are well loved locally and I now stand ready to help the council with any application to the fund.

“The benefits of exercise and wellbeing have long been clear but we now also know that staying healthy can help to combat the effects of coronavirus too. I see our leisure centres playing a vital role in this.”

Ms Baillie also welcomed Stroud District Council receiving another £100,000 of government cash to help it cope with Covid.

The money, from a £1billion national pot. It is not ring fenced and the authority can spend it as it sees fit.

“This shows that the government continues to offer generous support to local councils during this pandemic,” She said.

“This remains a very difficult time and I’ll keep working to increase support in areas that we need it.”

Cllr Chris Brine, Chair of Stroud District Council’s Community Services & Licensing Committee said: “We welcome the additional £100,000 of extra cash recently allocated to us by Central Government to help with pandemic response.

"The Council estimates that it will lose £2.7 million in income as a result of the pandemic and will incur £1million in additional expenditure to support our communities.”

“Local councils continue to be at the heart of both response and recovery to the pandemic, and continued financial support from Central Government is a vital part of that role.”

“The £100m is to cover the whole country and there are leisure centres everywhere in need of assistance; we await more information as to how much the district will receive of this total.”