Agenda item

The Service Lead – Countryside & Leisure introduced his report outlining the process for the issuing of a draft Leisure & Built Facilities Strategy for East Devon.  Development of the draft Strategy had followed Sport England’s guidance and national policy development framework; this was important since it gave credibility to the Strategy, placing the Council in a strong position for submitting future funding bids.

The following points were highlighted:

·        The Strategy constitutes a framework for action over ten years and is a very high level document covering a wide range of issues including:

o   Dual use sites – ageing stock and high costs; limited community use and income and future relationship with schools;

o   Identifying where and what new infrastructure will be required e.g. Cranbrook;

o   Review of LED’s management contract and fee; and

o   Health and wellbeing work delivered across the whole district.

·        There has been considerable public consultation and evidence gathering in developing the draft strategy, which will enable East Devon DC to make decisions.

·        Resourcing to deliver the strategy is as yet uncosted, and careful planning will be undertaken in the context of the medium-term financial plan.

·        It will be appropriate to review the role of this Forum, to consider whether it needs to have more oversight going forward, in terms of delivery of the Strategy’s Action Plan.

Liz Taylor of Strategic Leisure ran through the draft Strategy, including

·        Findings from the Supply and Demand Analysis undertaken suggest that at a minimum, East Devon is to retain its existing provision and, in certain cases, needs to increase the provision to cater for population growth through to 2040.

·        A vision and key principles are set out in the draft Strategy; these were developed in view of key issues identified from the consultation, and a Member Workshop in which these issues were discussed.

·        The bulk of the strategy is around the following five key objectives produced following the consultation and the Supply and Demand Analysis:

o   Facilities that meet the current and future sporting and leisure needs of East Devon residents;

o   East Devon DC priorities are aligned to and complement outreach health and wellbeing;

o   Effective partnerships delivering a sustainable community sport and leisure offer;

o   Harnessing the value of the great outdoors; and

o   Review of the existing leisure management contract.

·        Next steps should include:

o   Production of an Action Plan with timescales, and a Delivery Plan sitting alongside it;

o   Work with existing partners to identify options to meet priorities in existing facilities;

o   Identification of new potential partnership working opportunities;

o   Establishment of the resources required to deliver the priorities;

o   Investigation of external funding opportunities;

o   Periodic updating of the strategy, alongside other East Devon DC corporate plans.

The Forum were asked to comment on the draft Leisure & Built Facilities Strategy so that a final version could be issued for Cabinet and Full Council to consider and approve.

In discussion, the following points were made:

·        The Chair and other Members thanked officers and Strategic Leisure for the work that had gone into completing this very comprehensive draft Strategy.

·        There appeared to be no reference to the fitness centre at Seaton; Liz Taylor commented that she would check on this point before the final strategy document is issued.

·        Views were expressed that Cranbrook should be given prominence in the Strategy, particularly given that its demographic is different to the rest of the district.

·        A Member had observed anecdotally that there was very little usage of outdoor gym equipment.  Rachel Fowler recognised that these were an important informal provision and she and Liz Taylor would explore further whether they needed more prominence in the Strategy.  Outdoor gyms had not been included in the Supply and Demand Analysis because it was not possible to control their use given they were outdoors and free to use, nor was it possible to measure the numbers or age of people using them. 

·        Should the Leisure Strategy be approved, the Council would be in a good position to formulate business cases, and apply for any available grant funding.  It was recognised that there would be a lot of work to do concerning how to deliver individual actions, and affordability.

·        An important key principle is ensuring that a partner leisure provider is financially sustainable in both the short and long term.  There are concerns around many facilities approaching the end of their service life, and the Strategy will guide the Council on how to fund replacements.

·        A view was expressed that it would be appropriate to review in 6 months time the role of this Forum in relation to the Strategy and Action Plan.

·        It was clarified that the Strategy sets a direction, linked to evidence of need, and is not in itself about money.  How the ambition is realised is the next piece of work, and is about partnership and collaboration as well as funding. 

·        Strategic Leisure will put together some proposed Key Performance Indicators, for consideration.

·        It was noted that there would be some minor changes before the draft Strategy is presented to Cabinet.

In a vote following the discussion, the Forum agreed the following recommendation:

RECOMMENDED TO Cabinet:

·        To approve the principle of the draft Leisure Strategy.