Agenda and minutes

(Assistant to the Chief Executive)  To report the appointment of any substitute members for the meeting.

Noted that there were no substitute members for this meeting.

(assistant to the Chief Executive). To declare interests in any items on the agenda.

In considering whether to declare a personal or a prejudicial interest under the Code of Conduct, Overview & Scrutiny members are asked pay particular attention to paragraph 11 of the Code in addition to the more familiar requirements.

This requires the declaration of a personal and prejudicial interest in any matter before an OS Committee which relates to a decision of or action by another Committee or Sub Committee of the Council, a Joint Committee or Joint Sub Committee in which the Council is involved and of which the Councillor is also a member.

Paragraph 11 does not refer to Cabinet decisions or attendance at an OS meeting purely for the purpose of answering questions or providing information on such a matter.

The Panel noted that there were no declarations of interest made pursuant to the Council’s Code of Conduct.

(Chairman/Lead Officer) To note the attached Terms of Reference and associated Work Programme. The Panel are asked at each meeting to review both documents.

The Panel considered its terms of reference.

Councillor Jon Whitehouse asked that the terms of reference be altered to include checking to see if any money was available for investment for the Epping Sports Centre.  This would have to be added to the Panel’s terms of reference.

The Director of the Environment and Street Scene, John Gilbert reported on the Limes Farm Play and Youth Facilities, that:

• Following comprehensive consultation with local residents and receipt of three tenders for installation of a new Children’s playground at Limes Farm, SMP Play Equipment Company was selected to construct the new play facility.

• Construction work was due to commence in mid July with a completion date of 15th August, to enable use of the facility over the summer holiday period, but delays on behalf of SMP resulted in work commencing around 18^th August.

• As of today, only very limited progress has been made on the site, with the installation of one piece of equipment and some safety surfacing. Vandalism of the site and construction vehicles had been an issue, with a dumper truck and tractor being targeted over the last two weeks. Inclement weather has been cited as a cause of the delay. SMP have not confirmed when the installation is due to be completed.

Youth Facilities:

• Consultation with young people on Limes Farm identified a clear desire for a challenging ‘Parkour’ (free running) facility. A play company was commissioned to produce a bespoke piece of equipment for the site, but following extensive consideration by Officers including Health & Safety & Insurance, a report from the Health & Safety Executive and Legal Advice, a decision was taken not to proceed with the installation of a parkour facility.

• Officers are now re-consulting with young people as to a suitable alternative facility.

The work with Epping Forest College had not taken place as yet.

To go on a guided tour of the Waltham Abbey Sports Centre.

The Panel were taken on a tour of the Sports Centre by the Centre’s General Manager, Bill Ovens. He offered an insight into the facilities available and answered questions from the members.

The Panel noted that:

• It was a dual use sports centre used in conjunction with King Harold School;
• It was open for public use from 6pm to 11pm weekdays, from 9am to 1pm on Saturdays and from 4pm to 9.30pm on Sundays;
• It was also open on school holidays from 9am to 11pm;
• There were five income generating areas: the bar made about £25k per annum; the main sports hall generated about £43k per annum; the two squash courts about £7k per annum; the dance studio about £9.5k per annum and the gym about £4.5k per annum;
• The centre received about £25k per annum from King Harold School for management, upkeep and maintenance;
• The building is designed to “school standards” and this is not the same as modern public leisure facilities;
• If the Council wanted to update the building facilities it would have to pay for it itself, since there would be no financial support available from the school;
• The standards of the changing rooms were well below what was expected from a public leisure facility.
• The centre generated around £143,000 of income, including the £25,000 from the school. The centre was therefore heavily subsidised, as indeed were all the Council sports centres.

Councillor Ulkun asked what had been done to the centre recently. Mr Ovens said that they had a new sports hall roof installed about three years ago. Unfortunately they still had leaks. The heating system had also failed on about a half dozen occasions. It took time for the school to respond and organise any maintenance work. The School had recently installed a new lighting system in the main hall which cost about £25k. Unfortunately if a light fitting got broken it would cost about a thousand pounds to repair as they had to erect scaffolding to get to the fitting.

Councillor Mrs Gadsby asked if it was built for joint use. Alan Clear, the Performance and Quality Manager said that it was built for joint use but that was thirty years ago. It was built to far lower standards than was acceptable nowadays. One of the main problems was that it had inadequate toilet and changing facilities.

Councillor Miss Cohen asked when the school made decisions such as that about the lighting; did they consult the Centre’s management. Mr Ovens said that they did not. They were reliant on the school.

To go to the Waltham Abbey Swimming Pool and review the proposed area for the new sports hall.

The address of the Waltham Abbey Swimming Pool is:

Roundhills

Waltham Abbey

EN9 1UP

A map showing the location is attached to the agenda.

The Panel decided not to visit the Swimming Pool that night.

To consider the attached report.

The Panel considered the report on the relocation of the sports hall facilities from the Waltham Abbey Sports Centre to the Waltham Abbey Swimming Pool.

They noted that the current facility was popular with local people and families; the report puts forward ideas for similar use but in a modern setting.

The Waltham Abbey Swimming Pool (WASP) has a 25 metre swimming pool, five lanes wide, with a small teaching pool. There is also a new dance studio and a modern gym / fitness studio and there is a reasonable size car park. The proposed new area will need new changing room facilities so that there will be separate changing facilities for pool users and for the other sports. There were no significant highway problems highlighted, although Essex County Council was still considering this. There would be a small increase in the parking spaces available.

The missing figure under item one in the options part of the report was considered to be about £100,000. This would be for Architect Fees, a Structural Engineer, M&E Services Engineer, a Quantity Engineer, a Project Manager and a CDM Co-ordinator. If the Panel did not decide to go with this option then they would need to decide what would happen to the sports centre post 2010 when the current contract ends.

The new building along with the existing one will have to be brought up to Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) standards. It would need a lift installed and the rest of the building suitably modified.

Councillor Pritchard asked, if the new build went ahead, what would be the loss of facilities to the local area. He was told that there would be the loss of two squash courts, a dance studio which housed martial arts (but this could go into the new sports hall), and maybe the hardcore gym users. There was also the loss of the bar facility. There had been 3 bar functions so far this year and 7 last year. There have also been 5 children’s parties this year and 9 last year.

Alan Clear commented that there was no Crèche at the Swimming Pool site and if this was provided then children parties could be held there when needed.

Councillor Pritchard said the general facilities of the area needed to be considered along with what would be lost and what was needed. Councillor Mrs Gadsby said it depended on what we wanted to offer the public; there were also the new Town Mead facilities.

Councillor Whitehouse said that they were there to consider community leisure. Is this being driven by need or finances (savings) or was it just an interesting idea. No doubt it would be offering a better service but would it generate extra income? The pool was important, squash and gym less so. There needed to be more clarity on how the funding was to work and what was SLM’s view on this. John Gilbert said that the reason this was being considered was because  ...  view the full minutes text for item 11.

No other business was raised.

To agree a date for the next meeting of the Panel.

The Committee Secretary to identify a suitable date towards the end of November for the next meeting of this Panel.