Agenda and minutes

The minutes of the previous meeting held on 25 June 2024 were noted as a true and accurate record.

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

There were none.

Information on public speaking is available online

No members of the public had registered to speak at the meeting.

There were no matters of urgency.

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 confidential/exempt item (minute 17 refers).

The Forum received and noted this report which provided an update on the activities of LED including operational delivery, customer engagement, facilities projects, health and safety, and community projects.

The LED Director of Delivery introduced this report which highlighted the activities carried out by LED with schools during the 23/24 academic year, as part of their community outreach work.

Discussion and clarification included the following points:

·        Much of the work with schools is through legacy projects, and some is related to a specific funding stream becoming available for a certain area which enables the community outreach team to engage with a particular school.  Schools are often keen to continue engaging, once they have seen what the team can deliver.

·        There is the possibility of engaging with further schools, subject to capacity in the team.

·        It was suggested that if additional capacity becomes available, LED could consider a plan to reach out to schools more generally across the district and across age ranges.  One member suggested LED could promote the outreach work at headteachers meetings.

·        A member asked what the charges are to schools taking part in the LED Schools Project; it was agreed for LED to bring a report to the next Forum meeting setting out this information.

The Forum received and noted key details of the performance of LED Community Leisure for August – September 2024.

The Assistant Director – Place, Assets and Commercialisation presented this report which summarised the Property and FM Team activities since last report, and future activities at LED occupied sites. 

The report also included an update on approved capital projects and listed the capital project proposals submitted to the Executive Leadership Team (ELT) and to the Budget Setting and Capital Allocation Panel (BSCAP) for the 2025/26 budget allocation.

Discussion and clarification included the following points:

·        Referring to a pie chart at section 3.4 of the report which details the distribution of reactive work by property, a member sought to understand what the expected distributions would be relative to the number of users at each site and asked that this detail is set out in future reports to the Forum.

·        The percentages set out in the aforementioned pie chart relate to the number of jobs.

·       The work to replace the roof at East Devon Tennis Centre is now complete; the maintenance spend set out for 2023/24 relates to reactive work.

The Forum noted the contents of the report and the 2025/26 capital bid proposals submitted to ELT and BSCAP.

The meeting went into private session.

The Assistant Director – Place, Assets and Commercialisation delivered a presentation which detailed the content and outcome of a series of Leisure Workshops between May and October 2024 led by leisure consultants, Strategic Leisure.

Forum members were asked to consider a proposed timetable for next steps and decisions, for recommendation to Cabinet.

Members discussed relevant considerations and asked direct questions.

RECOMMENDED to Cabinet to endorse the proposed timetable and decision stages.