Agenda and minutes

Due to the apology for absence from the Leisure & Environment Committee Chairman - Councillor R Jackson, Councillor N Mison – Vice-Chairman took the Chair for the duration of the meeting.

Councillor T Wendels declared a personal interest in Agenda Items No. 6 – Active4Today Final Business Plan and Item No. 14 – Southwell Leisure Centre Trust, as he is a Southwell Leisure Centre Trustee.

Other than the Council recording in accordance with usual practice, there were no declarations of intention to record the meeting.

AGREED      that the Minutes of the meeting held on 13 November 2018, be approved as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

Amanda Sullivan – Accountable Officer, will provide the presentation on behalf of Newark and Sherwood Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG)

An update presentation was provided by the Newark & Sherwood Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG).  Amanda Sullivan – Accountable Officer and Andrea Brown – Associate Director Commissioning attended the meeting.

Following the presentation a question and answer session ensued as follows:

A Member commented on a CCG Annual General Meeting (AGM) he had attended about a year ago which had indicated that the CCG had been asked to save a significant amount of money and asked whether that was still the case.

Amanda Sullivan confirmed that in 2017/18 the CCG had an 8% efficiency challenge.  The CCG delivered a 6% saving across Nottinghamshire.  This was regarded as the upper end of what was achievable without disrupting service delivery.  This year the CCG had been asked to make a 5% saving which was the upper end of normal in the NHS.  The Growth coming into the CCG would be invested into mental health.  Investment into GP networks would also be undertaken.

A Member commented on one of the priorities from Ministers was prevention rather than treatment.  In reality money had been spent on treatment and there was never any money available for prevention.

Amanda Sullivan confirmed that they had recognised that investing money in treatment and not in prevention was not a sustainable place to be and that there was not a significant amount of money for prevention.  It was commented that alcohol had been selected as a preventative criteria and there was concerted focus on alcohol.  The key priority was joint working and hospitals would do more on that.

A Member commented on the alcohol preventative partnership work that had been established in Ollerton and was keen for the Council to support that preventative agenda.  Other Members reiterated that the Council had a role to play.

A Member asked how the CCG would inform the community about the services they provided.

Amanda Sullivan confirmed that work was required regarding informing the public about where services would be provided.  It was confirmed that the Council’s publication ‘Voice’ had been used to advertise the CCG services and local advertisements, local meetings and social networks had also been used to advertise their work.  It was reported that in the next few days there would be a face book campaign regarding the use of 111 rather than going to the Accident and Emergency department (A&E).  This campaign was being produced nationally.  It was confirmed that the CCG needed to do more work regarding this.  The opportunity to work in partnership with the Council was considered imperative as there was greater power in joint working.

A Member commented on prevention and felt that there was a gap regarding dental care.  There had been issues within the district regarding the closure of dental practices and concern was raised regarding children not being able to secure regular dental checks.

Amanda Sullivan commented that dental services were less visible and accessible.  She commented on the Andrea Leadsom (MP) reform and confirmed that the CCG did not have power over  ...  view the full minutes text for item 40.

The Committee considered the report presented by the Community Projects Manager and Managing Director – Active4Today, which presented the Active4Today Business Plan 2019/20, the Three Year Pricing Strategy 2019-22 and an update on the Company’s latest quarterly performance.

Members discussed the impact on the capital reserves from the withdrawal of swimming lessons from Wellow House School.  It was reported that 59 child memberships had transferred to Newark and Southwell, whilst 94 memberships had been cancelled.  It was confirmed that other venues had been pursed to try and provide a facility to keep the swimming lessons available to customers; however these facilities were either not suitable, or not available.

The payment options to customers were also confirmed which clarified that fixed memberships were not the only type of payment scheme on offer.

Clarification was sought regarding whether the construction of the modular swimming pool could be brought forward.  The Managing Director-Active4Today confirmed that a timetable had been produced and the one year plan for completion was a realistic timescale.

A Member commented on the activity data for the leisure centres and felt that it was unacceptable that the data had been undermined due to system failure.  The Managing Director – Active4Today confirmed that the problem was a high priority for both the Council’s ICT business unit and Active4Today and it was hoped that the current issues would be resolved shortly; the estimated timescale for the resolution was March 2019.

The pricing structure was discussed and the premier membership was queried as this was not included in the pricing structure.  It was confirmed that the premier membership was for a trial basis, which offered one to one training.  The pricing structure provided the membership and pay and play prices of the core offer available.

Members also sought clarification regarding the maps provided within the report and how the postcodes had been allocated providing areas of deprivation.  It was confirmed that the red dots represented the areas of deprivation based on IMD data aligned to areas of lower levels of physical activity as identified in the Physical Activity and Sport Plan.  These locations would be priority areas in respect of increasing levels of participation and it was clarified that residents living in those areas of deprivation would also need to provide evidence that they were eligible for a concession.

AGREED      (with 10 votes For and 1 Abstention) that:

(a)          the Active4Today Business Plan 2019/20 be approved;

(b)          in principle the Three Year Pricing Strategy 2019-22, subject to annual approval of the Active4Today Business Plan be approved;

(c)          Quarter 3 performance be noted;

(d)          Active4Today presents its 2018/19 outturn report to the June Committee meeting with its full year financial position in order that the Committee can form judgements on the appropriateness of the management fee payable in 2019/20; and

(e)          the impact of the loss of swimming pool time at Wellow House School and the anticipated reduction in income that will need to be closely monitored by Active4Today and the Council be noted  ...  view the full minutes text for item 41.

The Committee considered the report presented by the Business Manager Financial Services in relation to the budget and scales of fees and charges for those areas falling under the remit of the Leisure & Environment Committee for 2019/20.

The current draft budget showed an increase in 2019/20.  Direct service expenditure and income excluding deferred and capital charges and all central services recharges currently showed an overall increase of £250,580 against 2018/19 budget.  This was an increase of 7.42%.

Staffing costs of £3.289m accounted for approximately 61% of the gross service budget (excluding housing benefits, capital and central recharges).  Significant budget savings, therefor, could not be achieved in this committee budget without affecting staffing levels.  Major variances between 2018/19 and 2019/20 were detailed within the report.

The level of fees and charges had been considered by officers within the framework set out in the Corporate Charging Policy.  Proposals for increases in fees and charges were appended to the report for consideration and recommendation to the 21 February 2019 Policy & Finance Committee and 7 March 2019 Council.

AGREED      (unanimously) that:

(a)          the final Committee budget as shown at Appendix A to the report be recommended to Policy & Finance Committee at its meeting on 21 February 2019 for inclusion in the overall Council budget; and

(b)     the scales of fees and charges as shown at Appendix C to the report be recommended to Policy & Finance Committee at its meeting on 21 February 2019 and Council on 7 March 2019.

The Committee considered the report presented by the Business Manager - Commercialisation & Major Projects and the Business Manager - Transport & Waste Services, which presented the business case for bringing the Garden Waste service back to an in house provision.  The report sought a recommendation to the Policy & Finance Committee, that Committee recommend the preferred option in the business case.

The preferred option was to transfer all of the garden waste service to an in house provision.  The reasons for the preferred option and the impact of the National Waste Strategy were detailed within the report.  The recent government document ‘Our Waste, Our Resources: A Strategy for England’ was noted, which established a commitment to consult on universal food waste collections and the provision of free garden waste services for all households with a garden.

Members confirmed that the purchase of the existing bins being provided by Mansfield and Rushcliffe Council’s made sense but asked if consideration could be given to providing a sticker with Newark and Sherwood District Council to cover the Mansfield District Council or Rushcliffe Borough Council identification on the bins which would assist in avoiding confusion as to the service provider.  It was confirmed that consideration would be given to this but the Business Manager Transport and Waste Services cautioned the practicality as a large sticker on the front of the bin couldbe scratched off over time when being lifted on to the wagon.

A Member also asked if the timetable for collection for the year could also be provided as a sticker and placed on the bin lids to make the collection times clearer for residents.  It was confirmed that this could be considered as part of the text on the labels that were sent out annually.

AGREED      (unanimously) that:

(a)          the Committee recommends to the Policy & Finance Committee the preferred option as set out in the business case (bringing the garden waste service back in house) is added into the revenue budget in 2019/20 and built into the base budget for further budgets; and

(b)          the Committee recommends to the Policy & Finance Committee that capital costs of £450k be added to the Capital Programme in 2019/20 for the purchase of new collection vehicles and additional bins.

The Committee considered the report presented by the Business Manager - Environmental Health & Licensing, which sought to review and update the formal authorisation of officer’s dealing with enforcement matters within the Communities & Environment Directorate.  The report also sought to authorise additional posts to carry out enforcement action, strengthening the Council’s ability to take enforcement action, where appropriate, to deliver the objectives of the Council’s Cleaner Safer Greener priorities.

AGREED      (unanimously) that:

(a)          Officers listed in Paragraphs 4.2, 4.5 and 4.7 within the report be authorised to act on behalf of the Council under the legislation and subsequent revisions to that legislation, listed in paragraph 4.3, 4.6 and 4.8 of the report; and

(b)          authorised Officers be indemnified as set out in paragraph 4.9 of the report.

The Committee considered the report presented by the Community Projects Manager which provided Members with an update report in respect of Hawtonville Community Centre and the progress being made following the transfer of the management of the centre to Reach Learning Disability (RLD).  RLD was a local charity supporting vulnerable adults in Newark and Sherwood, through the granting of a three year tenancy agreement.  Approval was also sought for the RLD to utilise the first floor rooms at the centre and the current tenancy agreement be amended to reflect that proposal.

Members sought clarification regarding whether the Council paid the repairs and renewals for this building.  It was confirmed that the building remained a Council asset and major repairs were undertaken by the Council.  Clarification was also sought regarding whether this Centre would be transferred through devolution to Newark Town Council or the Charity which had already happened with some of the Council’s community centres and village halls in the district.  It was confirmed that the Council had adopted an asset transfer policy some time ago and a transfer would be possible under this policy if the Council felt this would be appropriate in the case of the Hawtonville Community Centre at some point in the future.

AGREED      (unanimously) that:

(a)          the content of the progress report detailing activities and services delivered to the community to date be noted; and

(b)          the proposal to offer RLD the upstairs space for use by Reach Care to run conterminously with the current three year tenancy agreement be approved.

The Leisure & Environment Committee Forward Plan was provided for Member information.  Members were encouraged to submit any areas of work they wanted to address for the forthcoming year.

NOTED       the Forward Plan.

The Leisure & Environment Committee Chairman informed the Committee that he had attended a Health and Wellbeing meeting since the last meeting of the Leisure and Environment Committee, which had discussed joint strategic needs assessments.  The minutes of that meeting would be circulated to Members of the Committee.

The Business Manager Housing, Health & Community Relations informed Members of a draft document entitled ‘Newark and Sherwood Health and Wellbeing Partnership Plan 2019-2022’ to highlight that the partnership was beginning to create joint ownership around a vision and set of priorities which had been tabled for Member information and comments.  The final version which would include an action plan for delivery would be considered at the 19 March 2019 Leisure & Environment Committee.

To consider resolving that, under section 100A (4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the public be excluded from the meeting for the following item of business on the grounds that it involves the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Paragraph 3 of part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Act.

That, under section 100A (4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the public be excluded from the meeting for the following items of business on the grounds that they involved the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Paragraph 3 of part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Act.

The Committee considered the report presented by the Director – Customers, which sought changes at Southwell Leisure Centre Trust.

(Summary provided in accordance with 100C(2) of the Local Government Act 1972).