APSE Southern Sports and Leisure Seminar 2026

Reading Football Stadium - Madejski Stadium, (Select Car Leasing Stadium), M4, Junction 11, Reading, RG2 0FL

Local authority leisure services continue to face challenges rising costs, public health priorities, climate commitments, and increasing demand for inclusive, community-focused provision. The seminar brings together leading voices from across the sector to explore how councils and partners can respond to these pressures while continuing to deliver services and meaningful social value.

The seminar will examine the growing integration of leisure with public health, the role of active travel in creating healthier cities, and the challenge of maintaining financially sustainable services under extreme cost pressures. Speakers will also highlight innovative approaches to decarbonisation, major capital investment in community facilities, and the wider economic pressures impacting local authority budgets.

Programme includes:

• Integrating leisure with public health outcomes.  Speaker: Steve Welch, Strategic Lead - Leisure Operations, Sport England
• Creating an active city: linking transport, leisure, and health  Speakers: Guy Fishbourne, Principal Public Health Specialist and Sally Hogg, Consultant in Public Health, Bristol City Council
• How to keep leisure services viable under extreme cost pressure.    Speaker: Justin Jardine, Chief Officer Corporate Development, GLL

• Opening of Lichfield Leisure Centre (2026) | Community Impact & Council Vision.  Speaker: Natallie McGuire, Commercial Director, The ReCreation Group.

• Decarbonising Leisure: How Oxford is Cutting Energy Use and Carbon While Supporting Healthier Communities.  Speaker: Councillor Chewe Munkonge, Cabinet Member for a Healthy, Fairer Oxford and Small Business Champion

• Implications of cost of conflict to council sports and leisure budgets.  Speaker: Andrew Donald, Business Development Manager, Equity Energies

….More speakers to be announced soon…….