COUNCIL leader John Halsall has apologised for the fitness permit charging debacle.
Late last month, the borough council announced plans to charge up to £1,500 for personal trainers to use council parks.
But the charges were scrapped two days later.
Cllr Halsall said that the current coronavirus situation saw his team take their eye off the ball.
“We’re in the middle of Covid, the middle of recovery and we’re trying to balance the budget,” he explained.
“We have a huge number of people (within the council) deployed on other things and it’s really reassuring that this is the only thing that has (gone wrong).
“It just came from the left field, and we had the good sense to have it stopped.
“But a huge number of people applied for permits, they want certainty and have insurance so that they can run classes on council land.
“The permit is a wanted thing: they don’t want people rolling-up offering sessions for free.”
He added: “Everyone believed it was included in November’s budgets but it wasn’t, we made a mistake and we’ve corrected it.
“Officers have been doing a really sterling job, working all sorts of hours. They’ve done what they should have been doing, all I can do is apologise.”