Agenda and minutes

Councillors S Carlton declared a personal interest in Agenda Items 6 – Active4Today Final Business Plan and Performance, as he was a Board Member for Active4Today.

The Chairman informed the Committee that the Council was undertaking an audio recording of the meeting and live screening on social media was being broadcast.

AGREED           that the Minutes of the meeting held on 19 November 2019, be                             approved as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

The Committee considered the report presented by the Business Manager-Financial Services, which sought feedback from the Leisure & Environment Committee on the proposed general fund revenue budget for the 2020/21 financial year 1 April 2020 – 31 March 2021, for those services which fell under its remit.  It also sought feedback on the scale of proposed fees & charges for 2020/21 or those services which fell under its remit.  Approval was also sought for the 2020/21 base budget as detailed in Appendix A to the report, which would be recommended to the Policy & Finance Committee at its meeting on 20 February 2020 for inclusion in the overall council budget; and to seek approval for the 2020/21 fees & charges as detailed in Appendix D to the report, which was also recommended to Policy & Finance Committee at its meeting on 20 February 2020 and Council at its meeting on 9 March 2020.

Members asked the following questions:

The Business Manager-Financial Services confirmed that there had been a restructure in the waste team and a new post entitled Community Liaison Officer in the Community Relations Team.  A written answer would be circulated to Members of the Committee.

Appendix B – Budget Summary by Committee- Subjective, sets the charges.  How often the services levied, as are contained in Appendix D – Proposed 2020/21 Fees & Charges – Leisure and Environment Committee and how frequently are other services levied?

The Business Manager Financial Services confirmed that market conditions were taken into account when the fees and charges were compiled.  Officers make assumptions as to what the budgets will be, the actual figures would occur during the financial year.  Information regarding this would be reported back to a future meeting of the Committee.

The naming and numbering fee at £30 per plot appeared high?

The Business Manager-Financial Services confirmed that the fee did not just reflect the hourly rate of the Officer, it also included the reclaim of associated overheads relating to the service.  The Economic Development Committee at their November meeting reviewed the policy for Fees and Charges.  The Chairman asked for an update regarding how the fees and charges are compiled and historic charges.

A Member sought clarification regarding stray dog prices.  Prices charged for stray dog collection were very low, £75 initial charge and £8 per day kennel fee.  The Member commented that this charge was cheaper than kennel fees and questioned why the fees were so low.

The Business Manager-Financial Services confirmed that a written response would be provided to Members of the Committee.

AGREED           (unanimously) that:

(a)          Written responses be circulated to Members of the Committee      regarding the following questions raised:

i.                    Staff costs had increased by £143,000 where have the extra costs come from?

ii.                   Appendix B – Budget Summary by Committee- Subjective, sets the charges.  How often are the services levied, as are contained in Appendix D – Proposed 2020/21 Fees & Charges – Leisure and Environment Committee and how frequently are other  ...  view the full minutes text for item 46.

The Committee considered the report presented by the Health Improvement and Community Relations Manager which presented the Active4Today Business Plan 2020/21 and the latest performance report to the end of November 2019 for approval.  The Managing Director Active4Today was also in attendance and answered Members questions.

The report detailed the overview of performance; financial overview; the Business Plan 2020/21 which was appended to the report; and Southwell Leisure Centre Trust.

A Member commented that whilst the Newark Sports and Fitness Centre offered great facilities he was disappointed that children’s fees would be increased.  It was felt small increases would be a challenge to some families and would like to see all prices for children under £5 to keep fees manageable.  The Managing Director Active4Today confirmed that it was a balancing act trying to encourage people to use facilities which were value for money, whilst covering costs.  Pay and play sessions did encourage people onto memberships and this was a first increase for children’s fees since 2015.

A Member commented on the decline in Sports Development in deprived areas and asked how that was being addressed.  The Managing Director Active4Today confirmed that there was two reasons for the decline in numbers.  The first was the reduction of staff over the last four months, programmes had been reduced due to staff shortages.  The second reason was that the Sports Development Team do not generally deliver sessions they facilitate them through the voluntary and community sports club network, and they don’t record participant numbers when the clubs assume responsibility as the sessions no longer belong to Active4Today.

A Member sought clarification regarding the Capital Charges and where those Capital Charges were located as they were not in the business plan.  The Business Manager Financial Services confirmed that the Capital Charges were shown in the budget presented to the Policy & Finance Committee.  The Member asked for the Capital Charges for the Leisure Centre up to the end of the year.  The Business Manager Financial Services confirmed that information would be circulated to Members of the Committee.

A Member commented that there was no information in the Business Plan regarding the income raised through vending machines in situ in the leisure centres.  The Managing Director Active4Today confirmed that Active4Today did not take commission from the vending machines, they were there for the convenience of the customer.  The Member commented that if the vending machines were infrequently

used they should not be there as it was promoting unhealthy food.  The Chairman confirmed that this could be assessed in the future.

AGREED           (unanimously) that:

                        (a)        the Active4Today Business Plan 2020/21 be approved;

                        (b)        performance to Period 8 (November) be noted;

                        (c)        Active4Today presents its 2019/20 draft accounts by early April                             2020 in order that the Director – Communities and                                                           Environment, with delegated approval, can agree what level of                         contribution is made to the Company, if any, for 19/20 based                            on the outturn position;

                        (d)        the full year financial position be reported to the June                                             Committee; and

                        (e)  ...  view the full minutes text for item 47.

The Committee considered the report presented by the Business Manager Transport & Waste Services which provided a progress update for bringing the Garden Waste service back to Newark and Sherwood District Council from properties currently served by Rushcliffe Borough Council and Mansfield District Council.

The report provided an update on bringing the garden waste service ‘in-house’, the financials provided within the Business Case, the service pricing and the expansion of the service.

The Business Manager Transport & Waste Services informed Committee that the expected numbers from the business case for brown bins was to date 8,262 a decrease of 36 bins from when the report had been written.  If the Council were to hold the current price of £35 per bin then the net income would be reduced by £10,500 from the figures quoted in the original business case.

A Member requested that some residents in the district had large gardens and required two brown bins and asked the Council to consider a reduction in the cost for a second bin, this would also encourage the recycling of green waste. The Business Manager Transport & Waste Services confirmed that a study was being undertaken regarding the green waste service, part of which would be a viability study into the use of Garden Sacks for smaller properties. The reduction for additional bins would be reviewed as some residents in the district had multiple bins.

A Member commented that some residents in the district had unused brown bins sat in their gardens as they had stopped paying for the service and asked when those bins would be collected.  The Business Manager Transport & Waste Services confirmed that those residents would be contacted to try and persuade them to renew the service as there was a high cost for collection.  A project however would be put together to establish where the unused bins were located and a group collection would be undertaken.

A Member sought clarification regarding the recycling of sweet tubs and plastic takeaway tubs and which bin they should be disposed in.  It was confirmed that a group meeting had taken place regarding plastic packaging.  It had been confirmed that the polymer contained within a confectionary plastic tub was the same as a margarine tub, Veolia had confirmed that it was the size of the tub that affected recycling.  Work was being undertaken to try and resolve this matter.

A Member commented that one hundred Christmas trees had been dumped in the district and asked how the Council could encourage residents to recycle their Christmas trees.  The Business Manager Transport & Waste Services confirmed that there was a recycling programme in place.  Officers considered that it was likely that the dumped trees were from a company that had overstocked and subsequently dumped them rather than ones collected from domestic properties.  The Council offered a recycling scheme every year for the collection of Christmas trees, 272 residents used the scheme in 2018 and 353 to date in 2019 to recycle their trees.

AGREED           (unanimously) that:

(a)           Members  ...  view the full minutes text for item 48.

The Committee considered the report presented by the Health Improvement and Community Relations Manager which provided an update report in respect of Hawtonville Community Centre and theprogress being made following the transfer of the management of the centre to Reach Learning Disability (RLD), a local charity supporting vulnerable adults in Newark & Sherwood, through the granting of a 3 year tenancy agreement.

The Manager of Reach Newark and the Café Project Balderton Playing Fields attended the meeting and answered Members questions.  The Annual Report and Accounts for Reach were tabled at the meeting.

Members congratulated Reach on their achievements to date and wished them success for future projects.  The Eaton Avenue allotment project was referred to and the need to progress that project and extend the lease for Reach.  The Health Improvement and Community Relations Manager confirmed that the Council were looking to work with Newark Town Council regarding extending the lease for Eaton Avenue allotments and also to add value to the project by encouraging grant making bodies to enter into partnerships with Reach.

A Member commented that the Hawtonville Community Centre would benefit from having a defibrillator which could also be available to the public when the centre was closed.  The Health Improvement and Community Relations Manager confirmed that work was being undertaken to try and obtain a defibrillator for the centre and community.

AGREED           (unanimously) that the report be noted.

The Committee considered the report presented by the Business Manager – Public Protection which updated Members on the progress on the implementation of the Graffiti Policy for Newark and Sherwood which was adopted in June 2019 by the Council.

The Graffiti Policy introduced a new timeframe for dealing with new items of Graffiti, with differing response times for different categories of Graffiti.  It was proposed to implement the time scales once all the existing graffiti across the district had been removed.

The report detailed that where new items of graffiti were identified officers from the Council were liaising closely with the Police to carry out joint investigations.  A large piece of graffiti had recently appeared in Newark and had produced a number of promising leads as to the identity of the perpetrator.  The Council was working in partnership with other organisations on diversionary art projects and workshops, particularly in relation to murals and public art which would make a positive contribution to the area.  A day of action had taken place in Ollerton where young people produced a new back drop to the Ollerton Skate Park by working with local artist.

AGREED           that the update to the implementation of the Graffiti Policy be noted.

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.  The following was suggested:

·         Invite the Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) to the 23 June 2020 meeting of the Committee

·         Acive4Today – Report regarding the Governance agreement

AGREED                       that the Forward Plan be noted.

The Vice – Chairman Councillor N Mison provided a verbal update regarding the Health and Wellbeing Board he had attended last week.  The meeting had covered smoking cessation which had a cost of £178 million to Nottingham County per year, which included health costs, social care costs and lost hours worked.  The Healthy Options Takeaway Scheme was also covered, only 250 establishments had taken part in the scheme.  The scheme asked food outlets to demonstrate that they had healthy options on their menus.  The scheme had been re-launched to try and get more participants.

The Committee was informed that a merge of the Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) in Nottinghamshire had taken place.  Newark and Sherwood and Mansfield had merged into a Greater Nottinghamshire CCG.

The Vice Chairman commented that he had a meeting with the Health Partnership, week commencing 27 January 2020 and would report back to the next meeting of the Committee.

A Member asked for an update regarding the Primary Care Trust and required information regarding which surgeries would be working in partnership and what would be available for residents.

The Vice-Chairman confirmed that the shared services allowed out of hours appointments which may not be available at the local surgery but at the shared surgery.  Members commented that out of hour’s appointments were a big issue for people which needed to be pursued rather than having to attend Accident & Emergency (A&E).

AGREED           that the verbal update be noted.