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Democratic ServicesWiltshire Council
County Hall
Trowbridge
Wiltshire
BA14 8JN
Decision details
Approval for closure of libraries and leisure centres
Decision Maker: Alistair Cunningham (Chief Executive Officer - Place)
Decision status: Recommendations Approved
Is Key decision?: No
Is subject to call in?: No
Decision:
To close until further notice all Wiltshire
Council Libraries and Leisure Centres to the public, including the
leisure centres managed on behalf of the council by Places
Leisure.
Reasons for the decision:
2. This decision would in other circumstances
be taken by Cabinet or the relevant Cabinet Member. However, in
circumstances where Cabinet or the relevant Cabinet Member is
unable to meet to expedite its functions in a timely manner during
the COVID-19 pandemic, this decision is being taken in accordance
with the power referred to in paragraph 1 above in consultation
with Chief Executive Officers, other Directors and the Leader. This
decision will be reported to the next meeting of Cabinet.
3. The background to this decision is the COVID-19 pandemic.
Pertinent to this decision is the impact of the advice from
government on self-isolation and social distancing; the closure of
schools to most pupils from 23 March 2020; and, in turn, the impact
of these measures on staffing (paid and voluntary) within the
library and leisure services.
4. The Leisure service has 273 staff with 148 FTE. The Library
service has 152 staff with 83 FTE. The position as of 20 March 2020
is as follows:
In Leisure 89 staff are self-isolating and 12 are WFH due to social
distancing. A further 36 staff are off due to the over 70, pregnant
or underlying health condition category.
In Libraries 25 are self-isolating and 8 are WFH due to social
distancing. On top of these 5 staff are off with Covid 19 symptoms.
A further 21 staff are off due to either being over 70, pregnant or
have an underlying health condition.
The 915 volunteers in Libraries have been greatly reduced for
obvious reasons.
5. Apart from Tidworth Leisure Centre, which the MOD have made the
call on closing, most of the service has been BAU although
programmes have been curtailed to a greater degree. The position
moving forwards is that sites are continuing to feel the strain,
and this increases each day, and enforced closures will be
imminent. Springfield and Devizes will have to close for periods
over the weekend because of staff shortages.
6. Of the 30 Libraries 7 are now closed at the moment because of
staffing shortages. A further 3 have partial opening because of the
same reason and there is a real likelihood that the situation will
worsen from tomorrow. None of the 3 mobile services are operating
because of staffing issues. The History Centre will have to close
tomorrow because of staffing shortages and is included in the
Library service for the purposes of this decision.
7. The national picture for both services is that many services
have either closed or are considering closing. Most of our
neighbouring authorities have already closed. There are those
providers that are holding out for decisions from either the
government or local authorities. Whilst most governing bodies are
fence sitting at this moment in time many of our bookings and
sessions are starting to diminish following strong Public Health
advice on social distancing.
8. Places Leisure (contractor for 10 x leisure sites) are
constantly pressing us for our current situation and need to be
consistent across Leisure. Places have circa 600 staff, circa 300
FTE. They have a similar picture with staff self-isolating/social
distancing, participation numbers reducing
9. Our two independently run Leisure Centres in Cricklade and
Downton are also wanting to know what we are doing, we are in
communication and they are preparing for closure. We are witnessing
more and more discourse from members of the public in both services
to the point where staff have been subject to verbal
aggression.
10. When schools close on Monday, already strained services will
become greatly strained once again and more closures will be
imminent but we are currently working with teams to understand the
impact of this. Where schools have closed already staff on the
ground are reporting children are coming in to sites, in some cases
with grandparents.
11. We need to work closely with our teams on the ground,
Communications, and partner organisations using those facilities,
to ensure the close down plan is both coordinated and effectively
communicated to all. Delaying the decision will put this at
risk.
12. All our teams are currently conducting the staff survey and
feeding their skill sets back in to HR to enable redeployment.
Closed sites can also be repurposed for whatever is seen fit
following consideration by the Communities Cell on how else they
can support our communities. Time is required, to understand how
this staffing resource could be deployed to remobilise should that
be needed. The front desk at Devizes Hub and Library, which offer
council services such as council tax, benefits, registrations and
customer services, and customers will need to be redirected to
phone and online services once this closes to the public.
13. I confirm that in making this decision I have considered the
following in line with Wiltshire Council’s
Constitution:
Key decision requirements: Yes
Views of relevant cabinet member(s), committee chairman, area
board(s): Yes
Consideration of the area boards and delegated decision checklist
for officers on the issue of when and how to involve local
councillors and area boards in decisions about local services: N/A
– this decision applies county wide
Implication of any council policy, initiative, strategy or
procedure: Y
Consultation in accordance with requirements and expectations
of
consultation with the public: Consultation with the public was not
possible in light of the urgency of the decision.
Range of options available: Y
Staffing, financial and legal implications: Y. Customers with
leisure membership will have this frozen. If people have any
borrowed items from our libraries, they will be renewed
automatically throughout the closed period and we will not be
issuing or enforcing any fines or charges. The financial
implications of closure for three months are £2.5m. However,
the government may order closure in any case and income is already
reducing.
Redeployment of staff will be explored
Risk assessment: Y. The risks of maintaining opening of the sites
are considerable given public health implications, severely reduced
staffing and other potential liabilities. As soon as we are able to
re-open these facilities we will do so.
Involvement of statutory officers and/or directors: All directors
had an opportunity to comment following the gold meeting of 9am on
20 March where the potential need to close was discussed. The
chairs of the community cell developed this proposal.
Regional or national guidance from other bodies: The decision was
taken in light of national guidance from Public Health
England.
The council’s constitution: Yes
This contract is suitable for execution under the e-signature
process: N/A
Alternative options considered:
The other options considered were maintaining
the existing opening hours of library and leisure services or
running reduced hours. Both were rejected as impractical as well as
being inconsistent with the advice from government on social
distancing.
Conflict of Interest: Not applicable
Background: 1. Pursuant to paragraph 4 of Part 3 Section D, the Directors of Wiltshire Council are empowered to take all necessary decisions in cases of emergency. This decision is being enacted by Alistair Cunningham, Chief Executive Officer, using these powers in circumstances where it is believed that there is a risk of damage to property, a threat to the health or wellbeing of an individual and/or that the interests of the Council may be compromised if this decision is not otherwise taken
Contact: Alistair Cunningham OBE, Chief Executive Officer - Place Tel: 01225 713203.
Publication date: 01/06/2020
Date of decision: 20/03/2020
Accompanying Documents: