THE visitor centre at Redditch’s Arrow Valley Countryside Park is set to be managed by the Borough Council’s leisure company as part of new plans to improve services for residents.
From April 1 Rubicon Leisure will run the facility, in partnership with the Council, alongside Palace Theatre, Forge Mill Museum, the Abbey Stadium, Pitcheroak Golf Course and a number of community centres.
The Borough Council’s portfolio holder for leisure and cultural services, Councillor Mike Rouse, said: “Creating Rubicon Leisure is an innovative move for our Council, and transferring the much-loved Arrow Valley Visitor Centre to its management portfolio makes a lot of sense. It will still be owned by the Council, but Rubicon will run it for us.”
Rubicon’s managing director John Godwin said: “We have already made great strides in improving services for our customers and are looking forward to bringing the visitor centre under the Rubicon banner.
“We have big plans for the future and will be looking to start to implement these ready for the summer.”
Rubicon Leisure was launched on December 1 and is a Local Authority Trading Company (LATC) with the Council retaining ownership of the buildings.
It’s like a limited company which is owned, and has a business plan, set by the council, but that can act like a private company in certain ways.
