Agenda item

Stuart Wheeler, cabinet representative for Leisure, Sport and Culture will be attending the area board to talk about the Review of Leisure Facilities being carried out by Wiltshire Council and to ask members of the community how they feel leisure services should be delivered in the future.

Stuart Wheeler, (Cabinet representative for Leisure, Sport and Culture) attended the area board to discuss the Review of Leisure Facilities being carried out by Wiltshire Council and how leisure services in Bradford on Avon were likely to be affected.

Points made by Cllr Wheeler included:

• Wiltshire Council inherited the financial responsibility for 23 leisure facilities on 1 April 2009

• Present indoor leisure facility stock is broadly outdated, inefficient and unsustainable

• £93 million would be required over the next 25 years to sustain the existing buildings (does not include service or building enhancements)
• Wiltshire Council was proposing £117 million investment over the next 25 years in order to create a high quality service and to secure the sustainable devolvement of the smaller, local focused facilities

• In Bradford on Avon, it was proposed that refurbishments to be undertaken leading to the devolvement of the facility. Devolvement could be to a single or a variety of different groups. In other parts of the county interest has been forthcoming from community groups, town/parish councils, schools, existing trusts etc

• The council has commissioned a report on the community trust options to help assist with the proposal

• Community groups will be given support and advice to set up the organisation

• Calne and Cricklade, where community members run the local leisure facilities, had volunteered to give advice and support where requested

• The consultation was open until the 29October. After this, cabinet would consider the outcome of the public consultation in December 2010 and Full Council would consider recommendations in February 2011.

Comments from the floor:

• It was important to ensure that there were cycle links to leisure centres.  Councillor Wheeler expressed his support for ensuring that cycling routes to leisure centres and asked Robin Townsend to contact SUSTRANS to investigate the process for nominating routes.

• The consultation had been very ‘bland’ and therefore the results would not be very informative. What the community really needed was information about whether the Leisure Centre could be viable if run by the community. Councillor Wheeler commented that they were not looking for individuals to volunteer to run the centre straight away but were looking to work with community members to work out what would be the most appropriate model for Bradford on Avon.

• Pool machinery is very expensive – the community needed reassurance that it would not be expected to take over machinery which was out of date. Councillor Wheeler confirmed that machinery would be refurbished before any centre was handed over to community groups.

• Bradford on Avon Swimming Club made a significant investment into the pool. The current equipment did need improvement. If a trust did take over the pool, would they have to continually raise funds to keep the facilities going?

• Why had Bradford on Avon been chosen as one of the facilities that should be transferred? Councillor Wheeler commented that it was inappropriate for Wiltshire Council to continue running 23 sports centres and that this proposal reflected the big society agenda which promoted local people running local facilities.

• What would happen if there were different charges for different facilities? People may go to Trowbridge if it is cheaper.

Comments from Wiltshire Councillors:

• Councillor Brown requested more information on the details of refurbishment and how much phased financial support was expected. Councillor Wheeler replied that the phased financial support wasn’t yet fixed but could be negotiated. 

• Councillor Carbin requested a copy of the correspondence between Wiltshire Council and Sports England and asked what would happen if no-one came forward to run the pool – would it have to close? Councillor Wheeler said that Leisure Services would be happy to share the correspondence and that options other than community transfer would be discussed at Cabinet.

• Councillor Hewson stated that he had asked the Bradford on Avon Development Trust to look at the current costs of running the centre and what would be involved if community members were to take over the running of the pool. Councillor wheeler replied that Wiltshire Council would be very happy to engage with the Development Trust

Decision

That the Bradford on Avon Development Trust works with Wiltshire Council to put together an information pack which any potential community groups could use if they were interested in taking over Bradford on Avon swimming pool.

The Chairman thanked Cllr Wheeler for his update and attending the meeting.