RECORD numbers of people are expected to use enjoyleisure’s sports centres throughout East Lothian over the next six months.

enjoyleisure runs sports centres in Dunbar, Haddington, Tranent, North Berwick and Musselburgh, as well as Meadowmill Sports Centre, near Tranent.

Figures between April and October show more than 700,000 people have used the facilities already this year.

If that number is matched in the second half of 2015-16, more than 1.4 million will have used the facilities, compared to just over 1.2 million people using the sports centres in 2014-15.

A spokeswoman for enjoyleisure told the Courier: “As an organisation, enjoyleisure’s fundamental aims are to facilitate opportunities for the participation and enjoyment of sport for all members of the local community.

“In the year to date (April to October 2015) we have already welcomed over 710,000 visitors through our sports centres' doors and, assuming previous visitor trends continue, we are set to achieve in excess of 1.2 million.”

The most popular activity at the sports centres remains swimming, with more than 197,000 people using swimming pools between April and October this year.

Last year, more than 318,000 people used the county’s pools – a figure which could be surpassed in 2016.

One of the biggest increases has been the use of 3G synthetic pitches, with just 4,966 people using the facilities in 2013-14.

That number jumped to more than 42,500 last year and could again increase with more than 23,500 having used the pitches already this financial year.

Meanwhile, the number of people using the soft play areas has already beaten last year’s figures.

In 2014-15, 15,816 used soft play with almost 17,000 using it already this year.

A report before councillors at the policy and performance review committee in Haddington on Tuesday said: “We have already seen a seven per cent increase in soft play use against last year’s total following the opening of Wiggles Soft Play at the Loch Centre on February 28, 2015.”

The enjoyleisure spokeswoman added: “Our team of staff continually strive to offer as many opportunities as possible to engage in leisure activities. This can be evidenced through the extensive development of our fitness class programme from 159 classes a week in 2012, when the membership scheme was launched, to our current programme which offers over 280 classes per week.

“We have invested in the development of key sports with dedicated officers focused on increasing participation in swimming, gymnastics, athletics, tennis and cricket."