A letter to culture secretary Oliver Dowden from chairman of the Local Government Association's (LGA) culture, tourism and sport board, Cllr Gerald Vernon-Jackson, said the pandemic was affecting facilities' ability to generate income while they faced ‘ongoing high standing costs'.

The letter, penned as many leisure providers are on the brink of financial collapse, read: ‘If action is not taken now, we risk losing our national leisure and sporting infrastructure – this will have a huge impact on the nation's physical and mental wellbeing and will cost millions to rebuild or restore these facilities in the future.'