Agenda and minutes

Apologies were received from Councillors Woolley and Heesom.

There were no declarations of interest stated.

To agree the minutes of the LGA Peer Review of Decision Making Arrangements.

The minutes of the previous meeting held on Monday 20^th July 2015 were agreed as a correct record.

Portfolio Holder for Leisure, Culture and Localism will be in attendance.

The Portfolio Holder for Leisure, Culture and Localism presented an overview on the Borough Museum and Art Gallery and partnership working.

The Museum had become more accessible to visitors and more interactive with schools.  Improvements were required on the visitor facilities (café, meeting rooms, toilets etc.), research facilities, education spaces and stores for the collections.  It had been proposed to operate a new coffee shop to increase footfall.

A Member raised concern of a café operating close to the museum.  The Member was advised that the aim of the new coffee shop was to deliver a different offering.

The highlight of the summer was the Museum being awarded the Trip Advisor Certificate of Excellence for consistently good reviews.

Resolved:-

Committee received the overview.

The Head of Leisure and Cultural Services presented the report detailing the current activities for sports development in Newcastle Borough.

The permanent staffing resources within the Sports Development Team had been reduced to two Officers.  The intention was to replace the Football Development Officer with a generic Sports Development Officer to extend coaching opportunities into other sports.  The sports development section supported schools and local sports clubs through Sport England’s Club Matters Programme. 

The Borough Council was facing a huge challenge to keep the borough active to contribute to the health of the community and this was compounded by the fact that as the borough’s population ages there were less people in the active demographic (under 55).

Recently the government had commenced a number of new schemes to encourage public participation, one of which was target archery.

In attendance was Mr Smith, National Field Archer Coach, from Lyme Valley Archers, who presented Committee with an overview of the sport.

The Head of Leisure and Cultural Services advised that the Sports Council would be known as Castle Sports.  There would an Annual General Meeting on the 19^th October to commence proceedings.

Castle Sports met quarterly, if business increases then they would have a Grant Sub Committee.

Resolved:-

Committee received the report.

Resolved:-

There would be an additional meeting, date to be arranged, during January 2016 to receive an update report on the work of the Community Centre Review Cabinet Panel prior to being submitted to Cabinet.

Any member of the public wishing to submit a question must serve two clear days’ notice, in writing, of any such question to the Borough Council.

There were no public questions submitted.

There was no Urgent Business.

An additional meeting will be arranged to discuss the Community Centre Review Cabinet Panel report prior to being submitted to Cabinet

An additional meeting to be arranged for January 2016 to seek Members comments on a report on the work of the Community Centre Review Cabinet Panel prior to being submitted to Cabinet.