29 October  2004 from http://www.herts-essex-news.co.uk/observer/news/story.asp?id=165203 

Elsenham snubs new leisure centre (report printed in full)

BOSSES at Stansted’s Mountfitchet Romeera Leisure Centre have insisted they are happy with attendance levels, despite the revelation that nearly 90 per cent of residents in neighbouring Elsenham have never taken advantage of the facility.

The staggering statistic that 88.7 per cent of villagers were yet to pay a visit to the Forest Hall Road centre, which is now more than a year old, was published in the Elsenham Parish Plan questionnaire.

Councillor Ray Franklin, chairman of the steering group behind the plan, said: “One thing that became apparent was the ignorance of what the leisure centre was doing. Some people even said ‘has it been finished yet?’ I was surprised by that.”

The questionnaire was distributed to every household in Elsenham and 40 per cent responded.

Rebecca Sanders, manager at the Romeera Centre, said: “Since the survey, I have attended a meeting of the parish council to make people aware of the centre. We are being pro-active and trying to let people know about the centre.”

She added: “We have got quite a few members here from Elsenham so I was quite surprised by the survey results. Perhaps the 40 per cent who responded to the questionnaire don’t know about us, but the other 60 per cent do.”

Phil Jenkins, contract manager for Leisure Connection, remained upbeat about the facility despite the figures and said: “There is a good steady increase of usage. Month on month, the membership database is growing.”

He added that there had been numerous mail drops in the area and the facility was regularly advertised in both parish magazines and the local media.

Mr Jenkins did not have specific figures for the usage of the centre, but said that many courses were fully subscribed and that it was sustaining itself financially, which was the bottom line.

Gaynor Bradley, leisure manager at Uttlesford District Council, which is in charge of monitoring the centre, insisted there were no concerns.

She said: “Leisure Connection is trying to address the numbers and they do take a bit of time to build up.”

Anyone interested in joining the centre or taking advantage of the facilities should ring 01279 648580.