Agenda item

Councillor Elsie Bates, portfolio holder for Culture and Leisure, introduced a report informing the Cabinet of interim management arrangements that had been established to facilitate ongoing provision of the municipal golf service at Keele Golf Course following actions taken by the liquidator to disclaim the lease of the property, and to seek the Cabinet’s endorsement of related decisions.

The report also outlined the long-term options for ongoing provision of municipal pay-as-you-play golf at this location and sought approval for a preferred course of action in relation to the medium to long term option for the site.

Immediate options considered had included:-

• mothballing the course whilst the council considered long term options (this could be regarded as a low cost option that would enable a strategic review to be undertaken from both a service and asset management perspective, but would be likely to be seriously harmful to the long term prospects of municipal golf provision in this location because of the damage caused to the course through lack of proper maintenance and loss of loyalty/good will from the existing customer base); or

• establishing ongoing interim maintenance and management arrangements whilst the council considered long term options (this option presented the short term benefit of keeping the course in operation although this had been balanced with the aim of minimising financial risk to the council).

These demanded consideration of whether the council wished to take the opportunity of:-

(a)  undertaking a strategic review of the activity (ie municipal pay-as-you-play golf) in advance of a strategic asset management review (the latter in the context of current and emerging policies).   This approach would tend to direct the council towards letting short term maintenance and management contracts awaiting the outcome of a strategic review; or

(b) testing the market interest in operating a municipal golf activity in the long term prior to making any decision to proceed.  Such an approach would tend towards a commercial lease as the vehicle to achieve the council’s objectives.  This would involve a two-stage process that would provide the council with an early indication of market interest through an “Expression of Interest” stage.  It would be appropriate to set the terms of any lease on a relatively short term basis, say up to five years.  However there was a risk that such a time period may have a significant adverse effect upon the market interest and value of such a lease.  For that reason it would be advisable to invite interested parties to submit an alternative bid for longer time periods to be agreed by officers in consultation with Cabinet members before the marketing process began.

In view of the considerations set out in the report, the second bulleted option with the course of action set out at (b) appeared to be the most appropriate at this stage.

Resolved:

(1)               That the actions taken by officers to facilitate ongoing provision of the municipal golf service at Keele – in particular the award of interim contracts for up to six months for both maintenance of the golf course (18-hole and 9-hole) and management of the operation to Glendale Managed Services Limited – be noted;

(2)               That the associated fees and charges as set out in the appendix to the report be set, subject to the junior rates being applied to under-18s rather than under-16s;

(3)               That officers be instructed to proceed with a formal, competitive, two-stage marketing process with the aim of securing a tenant who can deliver a commercially viable municipal golf offer at Keele Golf Course by way of a commercial lease on the basis set out in the report;

(4)               That officers be authorised to prepare the necessary draft lease document in accordance with a specification that shall have been agreed in consultation with the portfolio holders for Culture and Leisure; Economic Development, Regeneration and Town Centres; and Finance and Resources;

(5)               That the outcome of the overall marketing process be reported to Cabinet to enable a final decision to be made about the award of any long term lease; and

(6)               That officers be thanked for the work undertaken on the issue.