Carn Brea Leisure Centre has launched a community consultation after reporting a record-breaking year.

When Carn Brea first opened its doors in 1974 it was considered to be an iconic facility that the county and community would be proud of, but by the time the doors closed for what was expected to be the last time in 1999, things couldn’t have looked more different.

When in February 2000, following a high-profile campaign, the centre unexpectedly re-opened as Cornwall’s first independent charitable trust leisure facility, it was widely expected that this unique model would not be sustainable and only serve as a temporary stay of execution.

However, as the trust moves towards celebrating 20 years as a social enterprise, it has gone from strength to strength, and finds itself fighting fit after a record-breaking year.

The appointment of a leading leisure consultancy to work on the next stages of its capital investment programme heralds an exciting new phase for the Trust.

Alex Clifton, the charity’s chief executive, who has been at the trust since almost the beginning joining the management team back in 2001, commented: “The trust has never been stronger; the last 12 months have seen record levels of attendance and we’ve broken the 600,000 visits milestone for the first time which is fantastic.

“Some of the highlights are 1,200 children attending our ‘learn to swim’ programme every week and over 10,000 members of the local community using our newly refurbished swimming pools.

“Our core charitable objective is to support the local community’s health and wellbeing and with the amount of customers currently enjoying the facility we are confident that we are having a significant positive impact.”

The Sport, Leisure and Culture Consultancy (SLC) specialises in helping leisure organisations to deliver their aspirations and is currently working with a number of UK cities, local authorities, national governing bodies and Sport England.

Clifton added: “Being the busiest we’ve ever been is super positive, but it does present challenges in terms of meeting the demand, keeping up with the latest trends and maintaining a building that is nearly 50-years old.

“SLC is the perfect fit to help us understand how best we deal with these issues and put in place a plan to develop the centre further, building on the £3 million of capital improvements the trust has already delivered since 2000.”

To support the trust on its journey it is asking its users and the community at large to help shape its future by completing a short online survey that can be accessed via its website.

The trust is also looking for additional trustees to join its board, particularly with skills and experience in the health sector and local government.