SWANSEA Council and Mumbles Community Council have stepped in to re-open sports pitches and changing rooms in Mumbles after the company running them went into voluntary liquidation.
Council leader Rob Stewart made the announcement at a cabinet meeting on July 17 and said the temporary joint venture aimed to allow the facilities at Underhill Park to reopen in early August until the end of 2025. The hope at that point is to have a permanent arrangement in place.
The facilities are owned by a charity called Mumbles Community Association (MCA) and have been operated by a private company called Underhill Management Company (UMC), with any profits to be reinvested to maintain and further improve the site.
Last week both organisations agreed to put UMC into voluntary creditors’ liquidation after the sporting hub was assigned an unexpectedly high rateable value last August, resulting they said in business rates bills exceeding £93,000 for the 2023-24 and 2024-25 financial years.
They said that figure came down to £56,000 after retail and hospitality business rates relief was granted but it was still too high for UMC.
Cllr Stewart said: “We are delighted to have been able to step in a find a way of re-opening the pitches and changing rooms for the local community and teams.
“I know it’s been a worrying time for the local teams and families after these much-loved and well-used facilities suddenly closed.
“That’s why we’ve acted as quickly as possible to ensure the pitches open again from August and until the end of the year.”
He added: “I’m grateful that Mumbles Community Council has agreed to work with us to manage these facilities during the coming months. This also gives the opportunity for a permanent operating model to be found.”
The plan is also to reopen the cafe that’s part of the main hub building although the operating hours may be different to previously.
Will Thomas, chairman of Mumbles Community Council, said he wanted to reassure local teams and groups which used the all-weather pitch and other facilities at Underhill Park.
“We’re grateful to Swansea Council for stepping in and finding a joint operating solution for the coming months,” he said.
The Underhill Park redevelopment was over a decade in the making and received funding from organisations including the community council, the Welsh Government, Swansea Council and National Lottery, as well as private donations. The facilities are used by Mumbles rugby club, Mumbles Rangers and Newton Athletic football clubs and more latterly Mumbles Cricket Club and other cricket teams following the installation of an artificial wicket.
Martin Rodwell, acting vice-chairman of MCA, said he and the other directors were all volunteers and had been trying their best to resolve the situation.
“The last six months have been absolutely stressful,” he said.
As well as the rateable value shock, MCA learned it was not eligible for charitable business rates relief when, because it owned the assets, it thought it would be. It said the issue was that the assets were managed by UMC, a private company, in an arrangement that had been devised to allow MCA to reclaim nearly £600,000 in VAT (value added tax) on the £3.2 million construction costs.
MCA began the process of challenging the rateable value with the Valuation Office Agency and said this led to a 25% reduction. But it claimed the resulting figure was still well above comparable sporting premises and that there wasn’t time to complete the next stage of the appeal process before the business rates were due.
Mr Rodwell said MCA had taken advice from a company about how to set up the operating model in order to qualify for the VAT claw-back, and that in his view and the view of others the subsequent issues couldn’t have been foreseen.
“Maybe we didn’t ask the right questions, but who is to know what the right questions are,” he said.
Mr Rodwell said there have been many compliments about the facilities at Underhill Park and added that the National Lottery, which funded the community cafe, told him it was one of the best projects it had been involved in.
He also said MCA was shortlisted at this year’s Welsh Sports Association sports industry awards in the best business growth category.
The award was won by Commonwealth Games Wales.
