Agenda and minutes

To receive apologies for absence.

Apologies for absence were received from the Chair, Councillor Aldam and Councillors Crews, Davis, Jones and Oxley.

The Chair in Vice Chair, Councillor Hall, welcomed Councillor Robinson back onto the Committee.

To receive declarations of interest.

There were none.

To approve the minutes of the meeting held on 21 September 2023.

RESOLVED That the Minutes of the meeting held on 21 September 2023 were approved as a correct record.

The Chair of the Committee will answer questions from members of the public submitted in accordance with the Council’s procedures.

There were none.

See Agenda Item 4 for deadlines for submission.

There were none.

To receive a verbal update on performance monitoring Q2.

Councillor Robinson asked for the Performance Monitors at the next Performance Monitoring meeting to look at the Youth Service and it’s delivery due to the impact of recent staff shortages. The Head of Community Services advised the service had tried to recruit and an advert would be going out after Christmas.

To present the 2023/24 forecast outturn position against the revenue budgets and Capital Programme that the Committee is responsible for, in order to give an expectation of possible variances against budget.

The Accountant outlined the report and advised of a projected net revenue underspend of £189k outlined under 2.1 of the report. She advised that the main changes from Q1 were the additional income and underspend from the sports centres including the Pulse which was outlined under 3.8 of the report.

Councillor Edmunds queried the results of the condition survey for the Lido at Stratford Park as mentioned on page 41. The Head of Community Services confirmed that the results had been received with no costings included in the report therefore they were awaiting an update which was expected in January 2024. 

Councillor Edmunds raised a further question regarding the upward trend on pool-based activities mentioned in paragraph 3.8. The Head of Community Services confirmed that there had been a growth in demand for swimming across the country and classes and booking times had been re-aligned to increase the number of available spaces to book.

Councillor Robinson received the following answers in response to his questions:

·        There were four Neighbourhood Wardens (NHW) with a fifth due to start in January.

·        There was an ongoing restructure of the service which may enable the recruitment of a sixth NHW.

·        Once the re-structure was completed, details of the service would be shared with Councillors.

Councillor Edmunds raised a query regarding the cost borne by the Council relating to supported and temporary accommodation included on page 40. The Accountant explained that there was an information sheet shared with Councillors in 2022 which detailed the process and reasoning for the cost and if Councillors were minded, they could arrange a briefing outside of the meeting.

Proposed by Councillor Robinson, seconded by Councillor Edmunds.

On being put to the vote, the Motion was carried unanimously.

Councillor Robinson and Edmunds thanked the Officers for the report.

RESOLVED To note the outturn forecast for the General Fund Revenue budget and the Capital Programme for this Committee.

To present to the committee the revised estimates for 2023/24 and original estimates for 2024/25.

The Accountant introduced the report and outlined the savings and variants of the budgets which include the budget pressures. She highlighted the following to the committee:

·        The pay award increase was detailed in paragraph 3.3, page 47.

·        Table 4 outlined the pressures and efficiencies, the detailed breakdown of the savings could be found at paragraph 4.7 and 4.8.

·        Table 3 showed a breakdown of the capital projects for the Committee.

Councillor Tucker queried the virements and adjustments in table 2 on page 46. The Accountant explained that £407k of the £562k had been carried forward from a previous year.

Councillor Prenter asked for details regarding the 6 premise licenses relating to the Gambling Act 2005 listed on page 63.The Accountant agreed to respond to the question outside of the meeting.

In response to Councillor Robinson, the Accountant explained that the Air Source Heat Pump additional costs highlighted in table 2 related to a snapshot of the high energy cost at the time of the estimations.

Councillor Robinson raised a further question regarding the increase in costs for both The Pulse and Stratford Park Leisure Centres as detailed in appendix A. The Head of Community Services explained that there would be an additional cost to bring the leisure centre in house which would be higher than the previous contract fee. The Pulse had experienced a higher than predicted performance, along with additional costs involved in order to bring the two leisure centres together.

Councillor Baker queried whether the membership fees would assist to balance out the additional costs. The Head of Community Services confirmed that from November 2024 they would be receiving an income from the Stratford Park Leisure Centre.

Councillor Tucker questioned why there were a number of premise licences within Appendix B which had a 0% change in fees. The Accountant confirmed that the fees were set out in statute under the Licensing Act 2003 and therefore could not be changed.

Councillor Edmunds questioned whether the lease had been granted for Kingshill House. It was confirmed that it was agreed at the Strategy and Resources Committee Meeting on the 23 November 2023.

It was agreed to get back to Councillor Robinson in response to his question regarding the costings of the Subrooms.

Proposed by Councillor Baker and seconded by Councillor Tucker

Councillors Baker and Tucker thanked the Officers for the well written report.

On being put to the vote, the Motion was carried unanimously.

The Member report had been circulated prior to Committee. There were no questions raised.

The Information Sheet had been circulated prior to Committee. There were no questions raised.

Councillor Prenter debated why the uptake of healthy living vouchers was so low during the cost of living crisis. The Chair agreed that it was concerning.

The Head of Community Services provided a brief update which included:

·        An Officer Working Group had been created to assist with brining the service back in house.

·        A Leisure Oversight Board had been created to oversee the work completed.

·        A new leisure management system had been procured which was due to go live in April at the Pulse.

·        The rebrand and marketing contract was due to go out for procurement the following week via the southwest portal.

·        Recruitment was ongoing for the Leisure Manager which was unable to be recruited in September. Interviews were due to take place on the 11 December.

·        Work had begun on the IT infrastructure at both the Pulse and Stratford Park.

·        Consultants had been procured to create a Leisure Specification which detailed how the centre should be run including anything health and safety related tasks.

Councillor Tucker asked whether Stratford Park Leisure Centre would be closed for a period of time during the switchover. The Head of Community Services confirmed that it was an option on the agenda for the Leisure Oversight Board to consider at their next meeting this would be to allow time for an induction for those Members of staff transferring and to allow for equipment to be set up.

The Head of Community Services gave a brief update on the Culture Strategy that there was a draft due before Christmas for the Strategy and they would be looking to bring it to the Committee early 2024.

Councillor Edmands asked a question regarding the consultation of the strategy. The Head of Community Services confirmed that there had been a large consultation completed with a wide range of stakeholders.

To consider the work programme.

The Head of Community Services informed the committee that the following reports could be deferred to the March Committee Meeting:

·        Safeguarding Policy

·        Health and Inequalities Strategy

The Chair stated that the Cultural Strategy would be added to the January agenda.

Councillor Robinson asked to provide a written report on the Woodchester Mansion to the January Committee.

RESOLVED    To note the above update to the Work Programme.