Agenda item

B Report of the Director of Environment and Culture

1.      That Cabinet notes the outcome of an appraisal of potential management options for leisure and sports provision (see annex 1 of the Cabinet report).

2.      That, in accordance with the outcome of the management options appraisal, Cabinet agrees to the commencement of the implementation phase for the establishment of a new charitable trust for the provision of leisure and sports development services.

Dr Ronald Mendel addressed Cabinet as local President of Trades Union Council.  He commended the report but was concerned that it had not been prepared in-house. He referred to the options appraisal within the report.  He listed his main concerns and stated that he was of the opinion that the disadvantages outweighed the advantages.  He was not happy about the loss of Council control of facilities and was not convinced of the wisdom of creating a Trust.  The report did not address access to facilities, nor the long-term viability of the scheme.  Although the success of Trust working with the Royal and Derngate Theatres was mentioned, Dr Mendell did not feel this equated, as the appeal was for a different population, with the demand of leisure centres being from a more deprived customer base.  He did not feel that the Trust would have any better chances of outside funding.

In response to a question, Dr Mendell accepted that the Royal and Derngate undertook projects with deprived young people, but still maintained that overall the Theatres served a different area.

Councillor Mason addressed Cabinet and referred to the Portfolio Holder report presented to the previous Full Council meeting that had reported the success of the Trilogy centres and the uptake of concessionary swimming.  She asked how efficiency would be achieved if the Council was still having to subsidise the Trust in addition to the cost of developing the project. She was concerned at the potential job losses and asked why there had not been a fuller consultation about the proposals.  She asked if all the centres would remain and if the price of using them would increase.

Councillor Hawkins addressed Cabinet and reiterated the importance of the Lings centre for residents in the east of Northampton.  She felt the democratic process of the strategic business review had been flawed and asked who had been consulted on the proposals. She felt that the matter was a political hot potato and should be subject to a major consultation before returning to Cabinet at a later stage.

Councillor Mildren addressed cabinet and commented that a staff transfer scheme would not cover people’s pension arrangements.  He pointed out what he saw as discrepancies in figures in the report relating to the support charges.  He was of the opinion that a reduction in services would mean a reduction in staff and asked if a cap could be put on the council’s subsidy.

Councillor Clarke addressed Cabinet and asserted that the report was an abuse of the Administration’s powers. He felt that the report was ill advised and poorly written.  He questioned why there had been no engagement with the public on this issue to coincide with the recent consultation on the Corporate Plan and Budget.  He accused the Cabinet of treating people and fellow councillors with contempt.  He referred to complex and challenging legal implications mentioned in the report and did not think that an adequate equality impact assessment had been carried out.  He further accused Cabinet of failing to carry out consultation with al the relevant stakeholders.  He then warned Cabinet that if they supported the recommendation to commence implementation, then the decision would be called in and an investigation carried out to ascertain exactly how much consultation had taken place.

Councillor PD Varnsverry, as relevant Portfolio Holder, presented the report to Cabinet. He pointed out the importance of providing facilities to promote healthy lifestyles, particularly to less privileged communities and wanted to ensure that services and benefits were safeguarded and enhanced. He explained that the report set out the options for short-, medium- and long-term to continue to provide leisure services. A Trust could obtain match funding for great schemes and he felt that these approaches should be pursued. He accepted that there were issues and challenges that needed careful consideration and confirmed that the process would take a year to complete with £120,000 from the Investment Fund to set up the Trust. He wanted to support the recommendations but also proposed that the report be subject to an Overview and Scrutiny appraisal.

Councillors Perkins expressed surprise at the negative comments received as a previous report to Cabinet had outlined the need for additional leisure facilities.  Current facilities were being subsidised by approximately £1.5 million and it was important to be in partnership with other entities, such as a Trust, to acquire additional funding.  This was the council’s chance to deliver the leisure strategy and gain some control over the costs of delivering the service.

Councillor B Markham stressed the importance of keeping control of costs whilst continuing to provide sports development and leisure provision. He welcomed the suggestion that the report go to Scrutiny so that their recommendations could be taken into account. He reiterated that there were no intentions to close anything but further investment and development in additional facilities would upgrade the services to the public.

Councillor Beardsworth pointed out the need to look at every opportunity to have additional recreational facilities.  She referred to the success of such schemes elsewhere and welcomed the opportunity to engage with the local Primary Care Trust to work on the project.

Councillor PD Varnsverry also referred to the successful running of similar schemes with Trusts in other cities and towns, which provided thriving facilities.

It was made clear that the recommendation was to enter into the implementation stage.  Value could be added to this by its referral to Scrutiny.  Before a trust could be established, a proposal would need to be brought to a future Cabinet meeting for a formal decision to be made.

Councillor B Hoare reminded Cabinet that the town already had thriving facilities and there was no criticism of the existing provision.  However, in order to maintain and improve these, there had to be new ways of resourcing these threatened services.

RESOLVED

1.      That Cabinet notes the outcome of an appraisal of potential management options for leisure and sports provision (see annex 1 of the Cabinet report).

2.      That, in accordance with the outcome of the management options appraisal, Cabinet agrees to the commencement of the implementation phase for the establishment of a new charitable trust for the provision of leisure and sports development services.