Issue - meetings

                 Report by Chief Executive Officer – Place – Alistair Cunningham

Cllr Allison Bucknell, Cabinet Member for Communications, Communities, Leisure and Libraries introduced the report setting out the interim management arrangements for the council’s leisure centres currently managed by Places for People Leisure Ltd (PfP).

The Leader acknowledged that the review timetable for reporting back to Cabinet in January 2021 may be severely compromised due to the COVID-19 situation.

Resolved:

1. Agree to undertake a short-term procurement exercise for the management of the current outsourced Wiltshire leisure sites.

2. To authorise the Director of Communities and Neighbourhood Services to enter into an interim contract for the management of the sites on completion of the procurement exercise.

3. To progress at pace the Leisure facilities review and determine through Cabinet by no later than January 2021, proposals for the long-term facilities needs and management of all Wiltshire’s leisure facilities.

4. In making this decision Cabinet is requested to consider the corporate procurement, legal and financial implications of this decision covered in this report.

Reasons for Decisions:

PfPs contract for the management of ten of Wiltshire Councils leisure facilities is due to expire on 31 March 2021. It was intended that a full review of community assets and future management models would be completed in sufficient time to enable the transition of sites into the approved management model as of 01 April 2021.

Whilst some work has been undertaken to review the community assets, most of the work has not been completed. The consequence of this has culminated in a point whereby the PfP sites (and/or the Wiltshire Council managed sites) cannot be moved directly into the new model.

A decision is required to determine how the PfP sites will be managed in an interim period to ensure the continuation of leisure services. Of the options assessed the procurement route is the most cost and resource effective and the only one that can be achieved within a twelve month timeframe.