Hartlepool asks non-users what would bring them back to leisure centres

Hartlepool residents who have not used one of the borough’s leisure centres in the past six months have until Saturday 31 October to tell Active Hartlepool what keeps them away and what might encourage them to take part.

The council-run service has opened its 2026 non-users survey for local people who are not current customers. It covers activity levels, preferred forms of exercise and the changes that could make its facilities more useful or welcoming.

Who the survey is for

The invitation is specifically aimed at residents who have not used a Hartlepool leisure centre during the previous six months. The three centres named by Active Hartlepool are Highlight Active Wellbeing Hub, Brierton Sports Centre and Headland Sports Centre.

The first section asks about age, gender, ethnicity, postcode and whether a disability or physical or mental health condition limits day-to-day activity. It then asks respondents to place themselves in one of three activity bands: inactive, meaning less than 30 minutes of physical activity a week; fairly active, from 30 to 149 minutes; or active, at least 150 minutes.

Residents are also asked when they last exercised, which activities they enjoy and whether they currently swim. The listed options range from walking, dance and fitness classes to swimming, football, cycling, yoga, gardening and strength training. Active Hartlepool says later questions explore what it could do to encourage people to use its facilities.

Why non-user views matter

Asking people who do not attend can reveal a different picture from a customer satisfaction survey. The service says it wants to understand both why residents stay away and what could enable them to become involved. It has not promised particular changes, and the survey page does not give a date for publishing the findings.

Hartlepool Council records show that this is part of a longer programme of consultation rather than a one-off exercise. In a February 2025 council response, the authority said seven Active Hartlepool user and non-user surveys between 2020 and 2024 collected 870 responses. It also referred to a 2019 consultation on future leisure facilities completed by 1,001 people and a further Sport England-backed online community survey in 2020 that received 607 responses.

Those figures matter because the council has previously used consultation evidence alongside demand forecasts, costs and funding conditions when deciding which facilities to provide. The current survey gives people who are absent from the centres a direct route into that evidence base.

Deadline and prize draw

The survey closes on Saturday 31 October 2026 and can be completed through Hartlepool Council’s Your Say Our Future website. Respondents who want to enter the prize draw can leave an email address at the end. Three winners will each receive a three-month Active Wellbeing membership valid at Highlight, Brierton and Headland.

No timetable has been published for reporting the results or explaining how responses will affect services. For now, the clearest next step for eligible residents is to complete the survey before the deadline and describe honestly what would make local leisure provision work better for them.