------------------------------------------------------------------------ Page 1 40 Business and Marketing Portfolio Background

This new portfolio covers the following services

This portfolio embraces the majority of the Council's commercial activities, together with those functions which either support them or are closely related to them.

Marketing and promotion, an activity which has recently been expanded within the Council, is also an important part of this new portfolio.

Leisure services, one of our major business ventures, plays a vital part in making Mid Sussex a pleasant and healthy place to live and work. The Council provides high quality leisure facilities, including three Leisure Centres and two Civic Halls. Extensive areas of open space countryside and outdoor facilities are provided on over three hundred sites throughout the District. We aim to develop and expand these services in response to changing customer demands and in accordance with Council policies and strategies.

There have been, in these service areas, a number of notable successes recently. The Triangle, the new £13.5 million leisure centre at Burgess Hill was opened by HM the Queen and HRH the Duke of Edinburgh. This top class leisure facility replaces the Sidney West Sports Centre and the Swim Centre. We have introduced the Passport to Leisure Kite Card, giving visitors and residents savings on activities at our leisure centres and at tourist attractions. More than 12,000 cards were sold last year.