The word is that the spa is the next big thing; but what does this mean for the public sector, with its emphasis on community provision?
Pendle Leisure Trust need to update Pendle Wavelengths, they have access to funding and they believe that adding spa facilities makes sense. As CEO Phil Storey sees it, there may be important distinctions between the traditional spa offer and the needs of the communities in Nelson: what better, then, than to ask the potential users?
Leisure-net Solutions analysed information gathered from a representative sample of 200 members of the local community, a group of about 20 outreach workers representing all relevant service providers and 32 members of target groups who completed a paper-based questionnaire distributed by the outreach workers.
All of this was supported by the availability of translation services; something like half of the local population is non-white and most of these are of Pakistani background. The input from the council of its Inclusion Officer, Sarah Gaskill, and volunteer interpreter Tahira Akhtar was invaluable.
The interpretation and analysis of the findings was supported by the benefit of Leisure-net’s extensive database gathered from research carried out for over 50 clients in the sector and from their regular series of omnibus surveys, HAFOS. Almost all street-Focus surveys have enabled analysis by ethnic origin and work in areas such as Luton, Kirklees and Hackney has produced valuable insights into attitudes and behaviours across ethnic groups.