To receive the findings of the Leisure Facilities Review from Councillor Stuart Wheeler, Cabinet Member for Leisure, Sport and Culture.
Minutes:
Councillor Stuart Wheeler, Cabinet Member for Leisure, Sport and Culture, gave a presentation on the Council’s proposals for leisure provision in the county over the next 25 years.
Cabinet had considered a paper in November setting out the context of the review, with a vision to getting more people more active, more often, in order to support Wiltshire’s aim to be healthiest county by 2014.
Wiltshire Council had inherited some form of financial responsibility for 23 leisure facilities on 1 April 2009 and it was considered that the present indoor leisure facility stock was broadly outdated, inefficient and unsustainable. £93 million would be required over the next 25 years to sustain the existing buildings, and this did not include any service or building enhancements, which were much required in some of the centres.
For Westbury Community Area, the following was proposed:
• Westbury Swimming Pool – refurbishments to be undertaken leading to the devolvement of the facility to the Community to run.
• Leighton Recreation Centre – Refurbishment and improvements leading to the devolvement of the facility to the community to run. Improvements to include:
– 6 rink indoor bowls facility
– Café and catering facilities.
Devolvement of services could be to a community group or the Town Council. Wiltshire Council had commissioned a report on the community trust options to help assist with the proposals and community groups would be given support and advice to set up the organisation. Community groups in Calne and Cricklade were already successfully running leisure provision and had volunteered to give advice and support where requested.
The Chairman invited comments and questions on the proposals, and the following concerns were expressed by members of the public:
· It appeared that Wiltshire Council was retaining profitable leisure facilities and disposing the unprofitable ones to community groups.
· Full surveys needed to be carried out so that the Council was not passing over inadequate facilities to the community.
· The Council should not dismiss the possibility of Leighton Sports centre being combined with Westbury Pool, with one management body running both. All voices needed to be heard.
· It appeared that Wiltshire Council was abandoning Westbury facilities, but residents would still paying their council tax which would instead be supporting new facilities in other towns.
· The proposal for an indoor bowls facility had not come about from community consultation and it would have been better to ask local people what type of facility they would like to see.
· The footprint of Leighton Sports Centre was limited which could hinder development proposals there.
· It was not known how a community trust would work and it would be important that some sort of ‘safety net’ should be put in place to safeguard any facilities devolved to communities.
· Figures in Appendix C of the recent paper to Cabinet needed explaining as they were unclear; specifically the published ongoing expenditure to 2035 being £2,086,100. Councillor Wheeler stated that officers would check on this and report back.
· Councillor Hawker enquired as to the level of income the bowls facility was likely to generate and Councillor Wheeler said that these figures could be provided.
· There was interest in how the decision process would happen and specifically who would make the final decision. Councillor Wheeler responded that Cabinet would be making the decision, which would be a public meeting where representations could be made.
· There was some concern in relation to local sports clubs being approached in the consultation, to which either Councillor Wheeler confirmed that they were.
· An enquiry was made as to how “managed by the local community” actually worked and Councillor Wheeler gave examples of community-run facilities in Calne and Cricklade; both were willing to offer support and mentoring where required.
· A question arose regarding what would happen if the community was not willing to take on the running of the pool; to this Councillor Wheeler responded that, at this stage, the consultation was based on a set of proposals. Those proposals would need to be reconsidered following the consultation should there be the need.
Councillor Wheeler stated that all comments and concerns would be noted and that this was a genuine consultation to inform future plans. The views of the community would be taken on board and the final proposals may look different.
Councillor Wheeler asked people to take part in a ‘live’ voting exercise using the handheld voting devices. The questions were intended to provide an initial indicative snapshot of the community’s views and would not make up part of the formal consultation.
Upon being asked to participate in the voting exercise, many members of the public expressed concern that the questions were slanted and had been devised to achieve specific answers. There was also concern with the leisure consultation questionnaire, with members of the public feeling the same about the questions contained within that. The Chairman asked for a show of hands from those members of the public that objected to the survey and the questionnaire, and the majority of people present raised their hand.
Councillor Wheeler provided assurance that this was a snapshot only and was not intended to be a formal consultation. The voting exercise proceeded with an average of 17 people taking part; the results are attached at Appendix A.