To present to Cabinet the outcome of consultation conducted on proposals for changes to the current management and caretaking arrangements for sports pavilions, and to seek Cabinet approval for the implementation of changes to the current management and caretaking arrangements for sports pavilions in light of the outcomes of consultation.

The Corporate Director Communities submitted a report, that presented to Cabinet the outcome of consultation conducted on proposals for changes to the current management and caretaking arrangements for Sports Pavilions, and to seek Cabinet approval for the implementation of changes to the current management and caretaking arrangements for Sports Pavilions in light of the outcomes of consultation.

He explained that as part of the Council’s response to the cuts to public service funding, measures to achieve savings against the provision of the Council’s Parks and Playing Fields Service have been included in the MTFS in terms of a saving of £100k for 2016/17.

The Council at present managed and operated 80 individual outdoor sports facilities, which were serviced by 34 pavilions.

He went on to state that the £100k annual saving for 2016/17 was the element of saving expected to be made from the review of the pavilion arrangements. The total annual cost of managing and operating these premises was in excess of £400k, including £188k for caretaking services, with the remainder being the costs attributed to holding and maintaining the fixed assets. The annual income for the hire of these buildings was around £32k. The Council was therefore significantly subsidising the use of these facilities, in excess of 90% of the running costs.

In respect of the current situation, the Corporate Director Communities advised that consultation on the proposed changes had taken place, and this consisted of 3 elements as shown in paragraph 4.2 of the report. A total of 60 responses were received. Paragraph 4.3 gave the headline figures from the consultation process in bullet point format.

The Corporate Director Communities gave a resume of these, and added that the consultation had appeared to demonstrate a level of acceptance and understanding by users of the financial pressures and the difficult decisions facing the Council. A full copy of the final report was provided at Appendix 1 to the report.

While the principle of mobile cleaning did not appear to be too contentious, there was some concern expressed by users with regard to the self-cleaning implications of the proposals. This view seemed to conflict with the support expressed by users / partners to take on more responsibility for the pavilions, which would involve a more substantive cleaning role.  In light of this, he stated that Cabinet are asked to give their approval to the introduction of mobile cleaning teams to replace the current caretaking arrangements and subject to compliance with appropriate agreements to be drawn up, that users become key holders to the facilities and take on responsibility for the opening and closing of the pavilions when being used.  It should be noted that under this arrangement, users of the pavilions will be expected to carry out some cleaning of the pavilions following their use.

Replacing the resources attached to the opening, closing and cleaning of the pavilions with two mobile facility cleaning vehicles manned with two operatives in each vehicle and equipped with appropriate cleaning materials, will result in each pavilion being cleaned on a rotational basis once or twice a week depending on the overall usage of individual pavilions.

The cost of this service will be approximately £88k and will generate the saving of £100k identified in the MTFS when set against the staffing budget of £188k for the provision of caretaking services.

The Cabinet Member Communities advised that due to the current financial climate, the proposals within the report made sense with the ideology that users of Sports Pavilions and who benefit from the service provision associated with this, contribute more to the support of these premises including financial support.

RESOLVED:                       That Cabinet:

(1)  Noted the outcomes of the consultation

(2)  Subject to the outcome of appropriate consultation with caretaking staff, approved the introduction of mobile cleaning operatives in place of the existing caretaking arrangements.

(3)  Subject to the outcome of appropriate consultation with caretaking staff, approved users of pavilions becoming key holders for outdoor Sports Pavilions, in accordance with agreements to be developed in consultation with the Assistant Chief Executive Legal and Regulatory Services.