Motion E Protecting Haringey’s council-run leisure services
Proposer: Councillor Melanie Gingell
Seconder: Councillor Sarah Williams
This Council notes:
- In October 2024, the previous Labour administration brought Haringey Council’s leisure services back in-house after breaking the council’s contract with Fusion Lifestyle. This decision followed consistent failures by Fusion Lifestyle to provide the services Haringey residents expects.
- The successful insourcing of leisure services has allowed direct council oversight and democratic control of Haringey’s leisure services. This followed extensive work by council officers and leisure staff over several years. This included negotiations with Fusion and engagement and service users.
- That after bringing services back in house, the previous Labour administration confirmed investment of £7.5m over five years to address the backlog of maintenance and repairs inherited from Fusion. At least of £4.1m investment has already been delivered, as of February 2026.
- This funding delivered maintenance works across all sites including new lido covers, circulation pumps and gym equipment at Park Road Leisure Centre, and upgrades to the health suite, sauna, soft play and gym area at Tottenham Green Leisure Centre.
- That feedback from user groups found improved levels of cleanliness and a higher quality of facilities. User groups have also benefitted from direct engagement with the council after previous difficulties communicating with Fusion.
- That the decision to insource was welcomed by staff at leisure facilities and trade unions representing staff. 139 members of staff were TUPE transferred from Fusion and are now directly employed by the council, benefitting from the same conditions as other Haringey Council staff members and improved staff morale.
- That there has been significant work across the service on commercialisation and maximising revenue generated from leisure services.
- Haringey is a borough with significant health inequalities. Haringey residents spend on average the last 17 years of life in poor health and healthy life expectancy is below the London average. Two in three adults are obese or overweight, whilst 1 in 5 reception aged children were recorded as overweight or obese in 2024/25. A third of residents do not get enough physical exercise.
- That the Council’s New Savings and Management Actions report proposes “outsourcing of the Council run Leisure Centres to a specialist provider” and a “review of operating models for the Broadwater Farm Community Centre leisure spaces”.
This Council believes:
- Obesity and inactivity pose a public health crisis, shortening healthy life expectancy and costing the UK up to £107 billion per year. This places a huge strain on healthcare and social care services in Haringey. It is also a crisis of inequality with inactivity and obesity levels higher in the east of the borough and areas with higher levels of deprivation. Continued support for, and investment, in leisure services are vital in reversing these trends.
- Leisure services are key to supporting Haringey’s resident to live active and healthy lives, tackling public health challenges and combatting social isolation. Bringing leisure services back in-house has been a success allowing Haringey Council to put the needs of residents and services users at the heart of leisure services, rather than subsidising external management costs.
- The collapse of Fusion Lifestyle in April 2026 shows the risks of outsourcing leisure services. Fusion managed facilities were forced into chaotic and rapid insourcing, unplanned transfers to other providers or in the worst-case scenario, permanent closure.
- That outsourcing leisure services would reverse the progress made in recent years and betray the trust of staff and users who have worked so hard to make insourcing a success.
- High quality and affordable leisure services are an essential public service, best managed locally by and for local people. An external private provider will not have the depth of knowledge and engagement with Haringey’s communities as a council run service.
- Any changes to the ownership and management of leisure services should only proceed with the support of leisure staff and the trade unions representing them. Any proposals must protect the enhanced terms and conditions staff have been entitled to since services were in-sourced.
This Council resolves:
- That it wishes to consider through the appropriate governance route prioritising and protecting the principle of council owned and run leisure centres as part of the upcoming budget process and to ask Overview and Scrutiny to review budget proposals to outsource leisure services.
- To ask Cabinet to recommit to working with staff, trade unions and user groups on the continued improvement of leisure services and how we can collectively reduce barriers to participation to exercise and sport.
- To ask Cabinet to continue to promote the active wellbeing services at our Leisure Centres including throughout the London Borough of Culture in 2027 and the UEFA European Champions in 2028.
Motion F: Haringey, a Borough of Sanctuary??
Proposer: Councillor Luisa Brands
Seconder: Councillor Anne Gray
This Council notes:??
Haringey is a diverse, welcoming and proudly multicultural borough, enriched by people from across the world who have made their lives here. Refugees, migrants, asylum seekers and people seeking sanctuary contribute enormously to the social, cultural and economic life of our borough.??
Haringey has a long tradition of standing against racism, discrimination and injustice, and of supporting those fleeing war, persecution, violence, oppression and increasingly the impacts of climate breakdown.??
Across the world, millions of people are currently displaced from their homes. Many people seeking sanctuary face serious barriers, including insecure housing, poverty, restricted access to employment, healthcare and education, family separation, trauma and uncertainty about their future. Women and children are often particularly vulnerable to abuse, exploitation and violence.??
The City of Sanctuary movement has demonstrated how councils and communities can work together to foster a culture of welcome, promote inclusion, challenge racism and support people seeking safety to rebuild their lives.??
Haringey councillors from across the political spectrum signed the Haringey Welcome Pledge during the 2026 local elections, committing themselves to supporting migrant residents, removing barriers to public services, opposing harmful immigration policies wherever legally possible, and reviewing contracts and practices that may contribute to the hostile environment.??
In recent weeks we have seen the Government introduce new policies placing conditionalities on entitlement to settlement in the UK that particularly affect lower paid migrant?workers and refugees. These?plans will apply to those already here as well as newcomers and will force some people to wait up to 30 years before they will be allowed to remain in the UK indefinitely. They will divide communities, making it harder for people to put down roots, and lead to increased hardship, poverty and homelessness, with large numbers of people unable to plan for their long-term future.??
Recent years have seen a significant increase in immigration enforcement activity nationwide, including workplace immigration raids. Such operations create fear within communities, undermine trust in public institutions and disproportionately affect racialised and migrant communities.??
Immigration enforcement activity increasingly relies upon cooperation and information-sharing between public bodies, private contractors and enforcement agencies. Where residents fear that engaging with public institutions may expose them to immigration enforcement, they may be deterred from seeking housing support, healthcare, safeguarding assistance or reporting crime.??
The Government is moving to introduce the Asylum and Immigration Bill, despite an array of negative impacts that will inflict further harm on some of our most vulnerable residents, increase financial pressure on stretched statutory services, and damage relationships and cohesion in our communities.?This includes?forcing destitute?people seeking asylum to repay their support costs?and preventing them from settling until they do so; changing the?infrastructure of the appeals process, using people who are not qualified lawyers to make decisions; limiting the right to family life and increased restrictions on victims of modern slavery.?These changes put our residents at risk and will result in vulnerable residents being pushed into crisis and experiencing unnecessary harm. ??
Statutory services and VCS organisations providing crucial support will be further stretched without a proportionate increase in funding to safeguard service provision.?The lack of legal aid and government funded immigration advice and support continues to result in people falling out of the immigration process, facing destitution and exploitation.??
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This Council believes:??
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This Council resolves to:??
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1. Become a recognised Borough of Sanctuary??
?Engage with the City of Sanctuary network and local refugee and migrant-led organisations with the aim of achieving recognised Sanctuary status?and affirm the Council's commitment to standing in solidarity with refugees, asylum seekers, migrants and all people seeking safety.??
2. Strengthen support for residents??
Continue strengthening access to independent immigration and legal advice, housing advice, English language provision, education, employment support, healthcare, mental health services and community participation opportunities for people seeking sanctuary.??
3. Refresh the Welcome Strategy and develop a Welcome Action Plan??
Cabinet to continue the refresh of the Council's Welcome Strategy with direct involvement from frontline organisations and residents with lived experience, ensuring services are accessible, compassionate and designed around dignity and need. Ensure the Action Plan sets our practical and measurable actions with annual reporting by the Cabinet Member to Full Council.??
4. Review information sharing and cooperation??
Undertake a review of Council information-sharing practices, protocols, data-sharing agreements and operational arrangements relating to immigration enforcement, including arrangements involving contractors, external partners and policing bodies, to ensure the rights of migrants and refugees are upheld.?
5. Protect services from immigration enforcement practices as far as possible?
Commit to the council considering whether, acting within its lawful discretion, it should comply with particular HO requests, so that residents can access housing, safeguarding, education, public health and other essential services without fear of immigration consequences.??
6 Object to harmful immigration enforcement practices??
Publicly condemn the use of immigration raids and enforcement practices that undermine trust, community cohesion and public safety, and write to the Home Secretary calling for an end to such practices.??
7. Support residents to know their rights??
Work with migrant support organisations, law centres, faith groups, trade unions, community organisations and anti-raids networks to ensure residents and local businesses have access to accurate know-your-rights information, independent advice and practical support when facing immigration enforcement activity.??
8. Champion sanctuary across the borough??
Encourage schools, public institutions, faith communities, businesses and voluntary organisations to adopt sanctuary principles, celebrate Haringey's diversity and actively challenge racism, xenophobia and misinformation about migrants and refugees.??
9. Champion sanctuary across London??
Join with other local authorities pursuing Sanctuary principles, alongside migrant organisations, law centres, anti-raids networks, faith groups and community organisations, to develop an anti-raids Sanctuary corridor across London, sharing best practice, strengthening Council-wide Sanctuary policies, improving support for migrants and refugees, and objecting to hostile environment policies and harmful immigration enforcement activity.??
10. Advocate nationally??
Use the Council's voice to advocate for a humane asylum and immigration system, including:??
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