Agenda and minutes

In a vote of Forum members present, Cllr Sam Hawkins was appointed as Chair.

Information on public speaking is available online

There were no members of the public registered to speak.

In a vote of Forum members present, Cllr Nick Hookway was appointed as Vice-Chair.

The minutes of the previous meeting held on 11 April 2023 were received and noted as a true and accurate record.

Guidance is available online to Councillors and co-opted members on making declarations of interest

Cllr S Smith: Minutes 8 – 14: Affects Non-Registerable Interest: Member of LED Community Leisure as a service user.

There was one matter of urgency (minute 13 refers).

To agree any items to be dealt with after the public (including the Press) have been excluded. Thereis one item which officersrecommendshould be dealtwithin thisway.

There was one item to be considered in private session (minute 14 refers).

The Pavilion Manager introduced this report which included the following points:

·        Ticket sales and food and beverage income are back to pre-Covid levels and ahead of budget.

·        Ticket sales analysis for April and May 2023 were included with the report; these were live numbers are the time of the report and it was noted that sales pick up as each event gets closer.

·        Outdoor events in the gardens have been held for the past 10 years and these are free of charge to the community.  LED’s investment in them is circa £10k and the events are worth circa £200k in the annual revenue budget.  There have been some issues around the outdoor events but these have now been resolved.

·        External and internal maintenance of the building is ongoing; major works to address roof leaks are planned for January and February 2024.

·        The Pavilion do not have a daytime cleaner and the staff team must therefore clean up after the public, some of whom come in from outside purely to use the toilets.  The Pavilion has been asked by the Council to accommodate this but it was noted that the cost of toilet rolls and cleaning materials quadruples during the school holiday period, when traffic and usage is high.

·        As with most hospitality businesses, there are significant problems with recruitment of staff.

Discussion and clarification included the following points:

·        A horse box has been purchased from which drinks will be served during outdoor events.  It is intended that the horse box will be located at the Pavilion during the summer season but it is portable and could potentially be used at other venues subject to licensing and planning.

·        For a fee of £2.00 per ticket, customers can now protect their ticket purchase under the ‘Secure my Booking’ scheme, for the eventuality that they are unable to attend a show for some reason.  The fee includes a small profit margin for LED.

The LED CEO introduced the update report which provided a summary of the activities going on as well as a projects update, and invited questions.

Discussion and clarification included the following points:

·        Where direct debits are rejected for LED memberships, the LED Customer Engagement Team follow up by telephone with the customers concerned.  Out of 198 payments rejected during May 2023, the administrators managed to get 103 paid. 

·        The LED team aim to interact with 53.5% of members identified as being of high risk of leaving, to support them on their fitness journey; the number of interactions can vary throughout the month, depending on staff levels across the facilities.

·        In-house customer feedback for the Axminster Hangar has been positive; however, the NPS (Net Promoter Score) is sent through a digital platform and does not always align with the verbal feedback.

The LED CEO introduced this report which outlined the work of the LED Community Engagement Team.

Clarification and discussion included the following points:

·        LED has no contractual obligation to carry out work in the community but does so voluntarily to fill an important gap, as identified in the Leisure Strategy.  LED now receives some additional funding from the Council, through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund, to support this work.

·        There is a lot of work with schools, targeting pupils who are disengaged from mainstream sport, to try to build a love of physical activity.  One member suggested consideration is given to whether schools ought to be making a funding contribution towards this work.

·        A lot of work is done with refugees and it was confirmed that the LED team has received training in safeguarding. 

·        The Community Engagement Team carry out a number of pop-up events across the district, in addition to delivering programmes for long term change.

The Forum received and noted key details of the performance of LED Community Leisure for May 2023.

The Assistant Director – Countryside and Leisure ran through the updates on the Leisure Strategy Delivery Plan, outlining the progress made with key actions, and where there are difficulties due to capacity issues. 

He confirmed that a report and presentation will be brought to the next meeting on the progress with Cranbrook Leisure Centre.

It was noted in discussion that limited resources internally have meant that whilst all actions are important, it has been necessary to prioritise some over others.   

The Leisure Strategy Delivery Plan is a living document and the update is a standing agenda item for the Forum.

The Principal Building Surveyor ran through the report which provided a summary of the Property and Facilities Management Team activities at LED managed properties over the last few months, and planned future activities, as well as an update on the ongoing approved capital work.

Clarification and discussion included the following points:

·        Works being carried out on the Exmouth Pavilion building are essential for the facility to continue operating over the next 4 – 10 years.  There are a number of options potentially in the mix for the longer-term future of the facility but no decisions have been made and the Placemaking consultants will consider the options in relation to responses from the consultation last summer.

·        The cost for roofing repairs to a number of LED occupied buildings is considerable, but these are essential works that have arisen mainly due to age.  The amount of investment needed is cyclical and once these works have been undertaken, they will not come up again for another ten years or so.

·        A sum of £60k has been approved to appoint consultants for energy efficiencies at LED occupied buildings, and corporate stock; the Property and FM Team are in the process of obtaining fee proposals from consultants, for consideration.

·        Work is ongoing to renegotiate dual-use agreements with schools.  It was noted that LED no longer have access to the Axe Valley sports hall and studio during school hours, due to safeguarding issues raised by Ofsted.

The Forum members noted the report.

The meeting then went into private session.

The LED CEO presented a summary of the budget for this year, with a breakdown against sites.  This was the same summary as presented to the previous Forum meeting in April and the LED CEO explained that it was being re-presented to ensure the new Forum members have sight of it.

It was intended to report to the Forum quarterly on progress against budget.