Agenda item

To present for the Commission’s approval the scope and terms of reference for a Task and Finish Group to review the draft Leisure Strategy once it has been prepared.

OSMC considered a report (Agenda Item 9), which presented the scope for the Task and Finish Group to be set up to review the Leisure Strategy.

Gordon Oliver presented the report. He highlighted the terms of reference in Appendix A and noted that the Task Group would act as a ‘critical friend’, reviewing the draft strategy in the light of current guidance and best practice, as well as local evidence.

He flagged the following key focus areas for the task group:

·         Ensuring that consultation and engagement had been sufficiently wide ranging;

·         Ensuring there was good evidence about provision and demand for facilities locally, for different leisure services;

·         Ensuring the strategy identified and addressed barriers faced by different groups wishing to access leisure services;

·         Ensuring a clear rationale for any major investments in local leisure facilities.

He noted that the draft strategy may not be available for review until the summer, and so the group may not be able to report back its findings until the autumn.

The Chairman asked who was leading on the strategy.

Councillor Howard Woollaston confirmed that it was Matt Pearce (Service Director – Communities and Wellbeing).

The Chairman stated that Councillor Gareth Hurley had agreed to chair the Task and Finish Group. He asked if Councillor Hurley if he was happy with the terms of reference.

Councillor Hurley noted that the Council had a duty to ensure that leisure facilities were accessible to all, and the Task Group should consider if there were any locations where provision was significantly lower than in other areas.

The Chairman stated that the other Members of the Task Group would include Councillor Erik Pattenden (Liberal Democrat) and Councillor Steve Masters (Green). He indicated that a second Conservative Member would be allocated shortly. He confirmed that membership could be from outside OSMC and could include people co-opted from outside the Council.

Action: Chairman to confirm the fourth member of the Leisure Strategy Task and Finish Group.

The Chairman proposed that Councillor Hurley would meet with Councillor Woollaston and Matt Pearce to agree how they would work together.

Action: Councillor Hurley to meet with Councillor Woollaston and Matt Pearce.

Councillor Woollaston indicated that he welcomed the task group’s involvement, since there was a lot happening with leisure at the current time. He agreed that the east of the district was under-provided in terms of leisure facilities compared to the west, and this was a priority to be addressed.

Councillor Tony Vickers queried whether the Appendix represented a Terms of Reference, but he agreed with the questions to be answered. He stated that he was a member of the Local Access Forum, which had discussed the strategy and concluded that it was very commercially focused. Although there was mention of the rights of way network, several activities weren’t mentioned. He asked if there was potential for the terms of reference to be amended to allow other individuals / groups to feed into the review.

The Chairman recommended that Councillor Vickers should brief Councillor Pattenden about his concerns.

Councillor Lee Dillon agreed with Councillor Hurley about gaps in provision. He also suggested that in addition to looking at provision of facilities, the Task Group should look to see if sports could be delivered (e.g. programmes to train coaches).

Action: Gordon Oliver to amend the Task Group’s terms of reference to reflect point raised by Councillors Dillon and Hurley.

Resolved that: the scope and terms of reference for the Leisure Strategy Task and Finish Group be approved, subject to the proposed amendments being incorporated.