VISITS to the Magnum Leisure Centre are on the rise yet again.
According to the 2015/16 KA Leisure Progress Report, 14,487 more visits were recorded at the centre than the previous year..
This amounts to a five per cent rise from the previous year where 305,155 people paid a visit to the Magnum in that time in 2014/15 compared with the projected 319,642 visits for 2015/16.
And despite its impending closure in the next six months, the Magnum managed to attract 595,900 visitors between 2014/15.
But KA Leisure are predicting that number will fall in the 2015/16 to 586,700.
The Times has previously highlighted the centre’s resurgence in popularity after the decision was made to shut the Magnum for good and replace it with a multi-million pound facility in the middle of the town.
KA Leisure reported the Magnum is increasingly popular with people using gym facilities as well as the indoor five-a-side football pitch.
Presenting the report to the most recent North Ayrshire Council Cabinet meeting, KA Leisure Chief Executive Libby Cairns revealed customer activity at KA facilities has risen by 51 per cent.
She also reported a staggering increase in gym memberships up to 6,524 in 2014/15 from 1,300 in 2011 - a rise of 402 per cent since 2011.
It was also revealed that KA Leisure’s budget for 2016/17 will increase to £7,544,388.
This is mainly due to a £100,000 decrease in funding by North Ayrshire Council, income and expenditure adjustments due to the decommissioning of the Magnum and the Garnock pool and increasing staff costs.
KA Leisure are predicting a decrease in leisure centre visits for 2016/17 due to the closure of both facilities.
The report states: “There will be disruption to customers whilst the closing and opening transition takes place.
“KA Leisure will ensure this disruption is minimised and at the time of writing a decommissioning process is being drafted to identify timeframes.
“Allowances have been made in the budgets for the Magnum Leisure Centre and Garnock Swimming Pool to reflect possible downtime.”
Failures have been recognised in swimming and golf participation with a decrease in swimming activity at both Auchenharvie and Garnock.
A slight decrease of one per cent was reported in golf but this is better than the current Scottish average of 17 per cent.
Swimming at the Magnum however, has seen an increase thanks to the Learn to Swim programme and an initiative with North Ayrshire Amateur Swimming Club.
Visits to the KA campuses in Kilwinning and Greenwood have increased by 38 and 13 per cent respectively but visits to the St Matthew’s gym has dropped by nine per cent.
Councillor Marie Burns said: “As a customer I have always been pretty impressed but as a fairly recent board member, to see the breadth of activitys absolutely incredible.”