Agenda and minutes

Apologies were received from Councillor Pickup.

There were no Declarations of Interest stated.

Resolved:    That the minutes of the meeting held on 16 February, 2016 be

                    agreed as a correct record.

Members were advised that The King’s School had been unsuccessful in getting a grant from Sport England.  Therefore they would have to go with a three court sports hall.

A request was made that Kidsgrove Town Councillor Geoff Locke, or a representative from The King’s School or Diocese be invited to attend the next meeting.

Members were also advised that the school would be taking over occupation of the building in November and that the Joint Use agreement had been extended until March, 2017.

Consideration was given to a briefing note which had been submitted to the Council’s Executive Management Team regarding the Leisure Centre.

Members were advised that the next phase of work would be to look at ways of raising the capital for the project.  This could be through grant aid, capital funding or borrowing.  It was stated how important it was to get the funding in place and a suggestion was made for someone from the Council’s Finance Section to attend the next meeting.

Resolved:     (i)       That the information be received.

                    (ii)      That a meeting be arranged with a representative from

the King’s School and a member of the Council’s Finance team.

Consideration was given to a Feasibility Report for the Phased Build option.

Members’ attention was brought to page 15 of the agenda which showed the footprint of the existing leisure centre and that of the proposed.  

The phased approach would take 93 weeks to construct and Members were informed that the new pool would be open with a ‘construction site’ next to it.

Councillor Stubbs pointed out that Kidsgrove would be without a sports facility for a period of two years – during which time, attendees at the current facility would go elsewhere.  This, in turn would create the need for a huge marketing campaign when the new facility opens.

Members stated that the Birchenwood site would be a good area to build the new facility on.  The Council’s Head of Leisure and Cultural Services, Mr Rob Foster said that this site had been looked at previously and that the previous Working Group had concluded that the only site that the new leisure facility could go on was the school site.  However, it was felt by members of the Panel that the site – on the Kidsgrove Bank side could be revisited as a potential location for the new sports facility.  Mr Foster stated that he would need to speak with officers from the Council’s Planning section for the feasibility of this site.  Members requested that this be done in time for the next meeting.

Members felt that opting for the new site would allow the County Council to sell the current site and give a contribution to the proposed new site.  In addition, it would mean that there would be no lack of a sporting facility during the construction period.

Resolved:    (i)       That the information be received and the comments

noted.

(ii)      That further information on the Birchenwood site,

as a possible option for the new sporting facility, be brought to the next meeting.

Consideration was given to project plans for the development.  The plans gave options for single phase  which would be over 65 weeks  and multi phase over 95 weeks, approaches.

Resolved:    That the information be received.

Consideration was given to a report outlining the main elements of building works and the life span of the materials to be used in the development.

The existing building had been refurbished in 1999 and it was therefore felt to be more feasible to go for a new build now rather than further refurbishment.

Members were advised that the design brief had not yet been finalised.

 Resolved:   That the information be received and the comments noted.

There was no urgent business.

The next steps would be to hold a further meeting of this Panel together with representatives from the Diocese, The King’s School and the Council’s Finance Section.

Resolved:    That the information be received.

To resolve that the public be excluded from the meeting during consideration of the attached report, because it is likely that there will be disclosure of exempt information as defined in paragraphs 1, 2 and 3 in Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972.

Resolved:    That the public be excluded from the meeting during

consideration of the following matter because it is likely that there will be disclosure of exempt information as defined in paragraphs 1, 2, and 3 in Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act, 1972

Members considered a report outlining the costings for the project.

Resolved:    That the costings as outlined in agenda items 11 to 13 be

received.