Agenda Item No 15
North Walsham Dual Use Sports Centre
Summary:
This paper seeks to secure the future of the Council-run
community sports facility at North Walsham High School
through better management arrangements.
An opportunity is identified to review the current
arrangements for delivery of community sports at this site.
In turn, this will ensure the Council’s future funding of the
facility to deliver a wider package of community leisure
activities within the school environment, at the same time
affording the Council a financial saving.
Conclusions:
1. It is clear that the Council’s Community Sports provision at
North Walsham has good community support, evidenced by
the success of some of the user clubs and the active
Voluntary Management Committee
2. From the consultant’s report, it is clear that the current user
fees are too low and need to be reviewed. Officers and the
Voluntary Management Committee will have to work closely
to ensure that, as far as possible, the future fee structure
covers the cost of providing the facility for community use.
3. The Council’s payment to the school should cover the
additional costs incurred by the school in having its facilities
open for community use and not further subsidise the
school’s base budget to the Council’s detriment.
4. Such proposals, which will secure the community use of the
schools facility under the Council’s stewardship, will require
significant variation to the contractual agreement between
the Council and the school, which has not been reviewed
since its inception in 1986 and is now seen as being out of
date.
Cabinet member(s):
Contact
Officer,
telephone number, and
e-mail:
Cllr John Lee, Cllr Trevor Ivory
Nick Baker, Corporate Director 01263 516221
Nick.baker@north-norfolk.gov.uk
Karl Read, Leisure and Cultural Services
Manager 01263 516002
Karl.Read@north-norfolk.gov.uk
1.
Introduction
1.1
The social benefits of sport and active leisure are well known in terms of health
improvement and community cohesion. The Council wishes to ensure that
adequate community sport and leisure provision exists in the District on a secure
and sustainable financial footing. The Sports and Active Leisure Strategy 20102015 reflects this and accepts the need for community groups and others to be
involved to provide more local management solutions for such provision by the
Council.
1.2
Members will be aware that the Council has three dual use sports facilities based
at Cromer, North Walsham and Stalham High Schools, which allow for use of the
school sports facilities outside school hours for community sports and active
leisure.
All three facilities offer a wide range of sports, depending on the
facilities available and local demand.
1.3
All three dual use facilities are subject to a separate Joint User Agreement made
between each High School (historically through the County Council but now via
the school governing body) and the Council. Each agreement requires the
Council to pay a rental fee and then a 60% share of any costs associated with
the facility, as well as staffing during community use periods. The Agreement
lays down a two year notice period for either party to terminate the arrangement
and requires the ongoing provision of the facility during the notice period.
1.4
The Agreement includes the provision of a Management Committee, consisting
of voluntary representatives from a variety of clubs, and individuals. Under the
Agreement, the duties of the committee include the setting of fees and charges.
The Council and High School also both have a representative on this Committee.
In parallel to the Management Committee, many of the same people are
members of a stand-alone Voluntary Committee which hires the facility and
organises a variety of sports activities. Some of this income is then re-invested
by the committee into improvements at the sports centre.
1.5
The three facilities have broadly the same usage figures but vary in direct cost (ie
lease costs paid to the school and staffing, etc) to the Council, as follows:
Usage 2011/12
(individual
personal uses)
Direct Cost (not
including internal
recharges)
1.6
Cromer
30,809
North Walsham
29,253
Stalham
29,675
£48,285
£81,600
£61,226
,
The 2012/13 base budget for operating and managing the North Walsham Dual
Use Sports Centre (including support service recharges) is £121,600.
Financial matters are considered in more detail later in this report.
2.
The Current Position and Action to Date
2.1
The Community Sports Manager left the Council’s employment earlier in 2012.
This presented the Council with a number of options around the future operation
of the dual use sports centres and informal discussions were held between
officers and portfolio members.
2.2
North Walsham High School has recently successfully completed a joint
school/community building, The Atrium Centre. There are obvious potential
synergies between the management of the Community Sports Centre and The
Atrium Centre.
This issue was considered in the Council’s Sport and Active Leisure Strategy
2010-2015 where it committed to closer working in North Walsham with the CoLocation (now The Atrium) Centre which would reflect the Council’s stated
commitment to more local management of community facilities.
2.3
Any variation to the current Agreement would require the approval of both the
High School’s governing body and the Council, through a Cabinet decision.
Officers were therefore requested to initiate informal discussions with the Head
Teacher and Business Manager at North Walsham High School, regarding
different management arrangements, including the potential handover of the
community sports facility to the school to manage. An initial agreement in
principle was reached, regarding a way forward involving the payment of a lump
sum in lieu of the two years notice.
Further discussions, including relevant portfolio members, were then also held
with the Governors of the High School and in July, the Council received a letter
jointly from the Head Teacher and Chair of Governors confirming that they had
agreed “to support sport in the community by pursuing the proposal to take
responsibility for managing the use of the sports centre complex”. In addition,
that “the Governors have agreed that further dialogue about the proposal should
take place”.
Discussions during the school summer holidays focused on consultation with
users groups and other interested parties. The School then requested that
consultants should be provided by the Council, in order to help identify potential
business models for the future management of the centre by the school, prior to
the consideration of any formal offer or agreement by the school.
2.4
Consultant’s Report
This work was completed by KKP, an external specialist recommended by Sport
England, who provided a report on how to best sustain the facility under the
school’s management in the long term. The full report is shown at Appendix 1.
Whilst the consultant was asked to work up options on the assumption of the
school taking on its management, many of the issues arising from the report are
just as relevant if the Council is to continue to manage the dual use facility.
The key points arising from the report are as follows:
•
•
•
•
•
2.5
The terms of the current dual use agreement with the school, which have not
been reviewed since the agreement commenced in 1986, are very
unfavorable to the Council compared to other areas. Typically, agreements of
this type do not include running costs and contributions to any capital works
required over and above rental, especially at the levels experienced in our
own situation.
The hire charges to use the facility are too low and, even in an area of relative
deprivation, there is scope for them to be significantly increased, including the
introduction of an admission charge or membership scheme. This is
especially the case for clubs and activities where large numbers of users pay
the same overall amount to hire the hall as smaller groups.
There is a good level of latent demand for such facilities in the area,
especially if they can be improved.
The provision of a multi-use games area (MUGA) would provide significant
increase in user numbers and income. It should be noted however, that this
site is near to housing and the location of a MUGA would need to be
considered carefully.
In any option for change, it will be important for Council officers to work
closely with the school and the voluntary committee to achieve a smooth
transition to any new arrangements.
Whilst the consultant identified a sustainable model for the school to take over
the running of the sports centre as a community facility, discussions between
officers and members have also considered the concerns of external
stakeholders. As a result the focus has now moved towards the Council retaining
management of the facility, but with significant variations to the Dual Use
Agreement with the School.
Given the suggested changes to pricing structures and other opportunities for
development, the consultant’s projections indicate a significant improvement in
the income to expenditure ratio over time.
There is scope within the school site to provide a floodlit Multi Use Games Area
(MUGA). This would go some way to meeting the known local demand for a
small artificial pitch for football training and 5-a-side competition.
However, it is considered that such improvements, which would require both
capital investment and grant funding, should only be considered once the Dual
Use Agreement has been reviewed and amended and new arrangements put in
place with the Voluntary Management Committee.
3
Financial Implications
3.1
The finance issues discussed below assume that the Council now continues to
run the Dual Use Sports Centre, but with a reviewed and re-negotiated
Agreement with the school. It should be noted that such agreement has not yet
been reached with the school.
3.2
The current (2012/13) base budget for the North Walsham facility is as follows:
Staff
Premises
Supplies and services
Support service recharges
£56,600
£51,000
£14,000
£40,000
Income (hire fees and bar sales)
(£40,000)
Net budget
£121,600
Excluding the support service recharges, the net budget position is therefore
£81,600.
3.3
Based on the 2011/12 figures provided by the school’s Business Manager to the
Consultant, the additional costs for heating, lighting and cleaning, etc. at the Dual
Use Facility are around £18,500. This is the actual cost incurred by the school for
making the its facility available for community use.
The option now proposed would see the total fee paid to the school under the
agreement reduce from c£44,000 per annum to £18,500 per annum, resulting in
revenue savings of £25,500. This would reflect a much more equitable
agreement, only covering the additional costs incurred by the school for allowing
public use.
3.4
Furthermore, under the proposal, the charging structure would be administered
by the Council, with input from the Voluntary Management Committee. This
would see a per capita charge of £1.00 per adult and £0.60 per junior on
admissions from 2013, thus ensuring that user charges are equitable for large or
small groups. Similarly, bar prices would be increased by 10% from 2013 and
hire charges would increase by 10% in 2014 and then by 7.5% annually
thereafter. This reflects the pricing and income structure proposed within the
consultant’s report under Option 3.
3.5
The current income budget for the centre is £40,000 for 2013/14 but the
consultant’s report indicates that implementing the changes above to the
charging structures would result in an income figure of £65,800 for 2013/14
which would represent an increase in income of £25,800. When combined with
the anticipated saving in the rental expenditure budget this would result in an
estimated overall budget saving of £51,300 for 2013/14 (£25,500 rental saving
plus £25,800 additional income).
The estimated budget impact over the next 5 years can be seen within the table
below.
2013/14
(£)
2014/15
(£)
2015/16
(£)
2016/17
(£)
2017/18
(£)
Total
Expenditure
Current rental
A
Proposed rental
s
Annual
saving
44,000
18,500
(25,500)
45,320
19,055
(26,265)
46,680
19,627
(27,053)
48,080
20,215
(27,865)
49,522
20,822
(28,700)
233,602
98,219
(135,383)
Income
c
Current
income
a
Proposed income
n
Additional income
(40,000)
(65,800)
(25,800)
(41,200)
(68,300)
(27,100)
(42,436)
(70,800)
(28,364)
(43,709)
(76,110)
(32,401)
(45,020)
(81,818)
(36,798)
(212,365)
(362,828)
(150,463)
b
Overall
budget saving
(51,300)
(53,365)
(55,417)
(60,265)
(65,498)
(285,846)
(£)
e
As can be seen, the estimated saving for 2013/14 is £51,300 but this increases
year on year through to 2017/18 where the estimated saving is just over £65,000.
The total estimated saving over the 5 year period from 2013/14 to 2017/18 is
therefore £285,846.
The above figures for rental are based on the assumption that costs would
increase by 3% per annum along with the current income budget. The proposed
income figures are taken from the consultant’s report and are based on the
proposed changes to the charging structure.
Clearly, there are a number of variables in the model which are outside the
Council’s control. Increased hire fees may affect user numbers negatively and,
as the additional costs for the school are influenced by energy prices, and as
such inflation may well be above the 3% assumed. It is therefore considered that
a prudent approach should be taken to the potential savings figures provided
above and for budgeting purposes it is recommended that any forecast should be
capped at 60% which would result in the following adjusted figures:
2013/14
(£)
2014/15
(£)
2015/16
(£)
2016/17
(£)
2017/18
(£)
Total
Estimated saving above
(51,300)
(53,365)
(55,417)
(60,265)
(65,498)
(285,846)
Adjusted to 60%
(30,780)
(32,019)
(33,250)
(36,159)
(39,299)
(171,507)
(£)
Further work will continue to be undertaken to investigate further sources of
additional income and improved marketing, to try and achieve the higher income
estimates. The revised savings figure over the 5 year period taking a more
prudent approach is therefore estimated to be £171,507.
4.
Stakeholder Dialogue and Consultation
4.1
As well as the consultants’ work, which engaged with users through the Voluntary
Management Committee, Officers have completed a range of meetings with the
sports clubs and groups that use the facility on a regular basis, along with other
stakeholders. Again, this was based on the potential for the management of the
community facility to be transferred to the school. The detail of the consultation
is contained at Appendix 2 but the main issues raised can be summarised as
follows:
ƒ
Some were anxious that the School would not have the financial security
or management ability to sustain the current community provision and/or
that it should not be running such facilities in any case.
ƒ
Others did not believe that there are any other ways of running the centre
than the current structures and pricing.
ƒ
Some clubs felt that prices will rise too much to allow the community to
use the facility as it does now.
ƒ
However, others agreed that the facility can be run differently and indeed,
are quite prepared to see modest increases in increase in hire fees in
order to secure the future of the sports centre.
4.2
Officers have met with local Members on three occasions. In addition, there
have been separate and wide ranging discussions with individual local members,
all of whom were concerned with the original proposal to transfer management of
the facility to the school.
4.3
The Council has also consulted with Sport England. Whilst Sport England would
prefer to see the facility remain with a full Council subsidy, there is also clear
understanding of the need to balance council priorities against budget.
Sport England recommended the consultants used in this project and has agreed
to support the Council to try and ensure long term sustainability of the community
facility.
5
Appraisal of Issues and other Options Considered
5.1
The key point in considering any future option, is the position the school wishes
to take on any proposal. Whilst initial discussions were relatively positive, it is
clearly understandable that the school would rather the Council continues with
the current agreement and subsidy of its facility at the same level. However, and
especially in the current financial climate, the terms of the existing agreement are
not sustainable.
5.2
Some stakeholders have asked why North Walsham has been considered and
not the other Dual Use Sports Centres. The initial reasons were the belief that,
with the Atrium Centre now completed, there were real opportunities to drive
further efficiencies in overall community leisure provision. In addition, there is
already clear evidence of community involvement in the sports facility and this
may well open up further funding options in the future. The North Walsham
facility also has higher direct costs than the other two facilities.
Once the review process is completed for North Walsham, it is intended to open
discussions with the other schools, to ensure the terms of the agreements there
also allow the costs of community use to be covered.
5.3
Several stakeholders have raised concerns regarding the potential of the school
to run the sports centre in the future and, as stated earlier, some do not accept
that there are any other possible management models. Some of this is also
linked to The Atrium being primarily an arts based facility.
Whilst, there are very clear areas of potential synergy in jointly managing
adjoining facilities, both of which provide leisure activities for the local community,
it is felt that the best option at present would be for the Council to continue the
management of the centre, but on significantly improved terms and with more
control on the setting of fees and charges.
5.4
Other options which have been considered are as follows:
•
•
5.5
Serve the required two year notice on the school to end the agreement.
This is not preferred as community demand exists, no other provision is in
place in North Walsham and there are doubts raised as to the school’s
willingness or ability to manage the centre in the future.
Serve the required notice with a lump sum alternative to the school.
Again, this is not preferred as there is no guarantee of future community
involvement with the Voluntary Management Committee or similar.
With regard to different governance models, the opportunity clearly exists for the
consideration of a charitable trust model for running the sports centre. This could
be under a combined trust with The Atrium Centre or under a separate sports
trust, for example, as a Community Amateur Sports Club.
In addition, the school is understood to be already considering a Trust for the
purposes of managing the Atrium at some time in the future. Such a Trust could
be formed with relatively wide charitable objects covering the provision of both
arts and sports based leisure activity for the local community.
There are potential financial benefits for a charity based operating model, but at
this point, it is considered important to review the Agreement with the School first
and consider opportunities for charitable models at a later date.
5.6
All stakeholders recognise that any community sports activity requires voluntary
input from within the community served. The proposal to review the Agreement
with the school and change the responsibility for setting fees and charges will still
see the Voluntary Management Committee retained.
6
Sustainability
6.1
There are no environmental sustainability issues arising directly from the
proposal, as it is assumed that the facility will continue to operate, giving
continued local access to sports and active leisure.
7
Equality and Diversity
7.1
There are no equality issues arising directly from the report and it should be
stressed that access to the facility is not at risk, including use by disadvantaged
groups.
8
Crime and Disorder
8.1
There is little doubt that the provision of sports and other active leisure facilities
has a positive impact on local crime and anti-social behaviour. The continued
access to the facility, including both young people and programmes such as
KICKZ, which involves the police, will support this.
9.
Risks to the Council
9.1
As with any sports facility, the reputational risk to the Council of any change in
provision is potentially high. However, the community benefits which could
accrue from an improved management solution in the future are very significant,
with better public and community interaction with the school and the potential for
the facility to genuinely sit at the centre of the local community.
9.2
In order to facilitate any changes, it is proposed that officers would work to review
the Agreement with the school. It is important that, in order to maintain the
facility, it is put on a sustainable financial footing in a timely manner. It is
therefore suggested that any negotiations are completed in time for the financial
changes to be put in place for the 2013-14 financial year
9.3
Legal and contractual risks are being managed by ensuring appropriate legal
advice is taken during the process and the Council’s legal team will draw up the
proposed variations to the Agreement.
10
Conclusions
10.1
It is clear that the Council’s Community Sports provision at North Walsham has
good community support, evidenced by the success of some of the user clubs
and the active Voluntary Management Committee.
10.2
From the consultant’s report, it is clear that the current user fees are too low and
need to be reviewed. Officers and the Voluntary Management Committee will
have to work closely to ensure that, as far as possible, the future fee structure
covers the cost of providing the facility for community use.
10.3
The Council’s payment to the school should cover the additional costs incurred
by the school in having its facilities open for community use and not further
subsidise the school’s base budget to the Council’s detriment.
10.4
Such proposals, which will secure the community use of the schools facility under
the Council’s stewardship, will require significant variation to the contractual
agreement between the Council and the school, which has not been reviewed
since its inception in 1986 and is now seen as being out of date.
11
Recommendations
1) That officers are authorised to negotiate and conclude variations to the Dual
Use Agreement with the North Walsham High School to ensure that:
a. The Council pays the school only for the additional costs incurred in
having the school buildings open for community use
b. The Council assumes overall responsibility for setting all fees and
charges relating to the Dual Use Centre, in consultation with the
Voluntary Management Committee
2) That, should it be necessary to serve Notice to vary the existing or enter into a
new Agreement to be implemented by 1 April 2013, officers, with the
agreement of the relevant portfolio members, are authorised to serve the
required notice on the school to end the current Dual Use Agreement.
3) That officers are authorised to work with the Voluntary Management
Committee to improve local management of the Dual Use Centre, including
the setting up of a Community Sports Trust if this is feasible.
4) That improvements to the facilities, such as the provision of a MUGA at the
Dual Use Centre, are explored further with the school.
5) That officers are authorised to negotiate and conclude variations to the Dual
Use Agreements with Cromer Academy and Stalham High School as per
recommendation 1 above.
Appendix P Consultants Report.
3-009-1213 North
Walsham High School
Options
Summary.doc
Appendix R: Stakeholder Consultation
Stakeholder
Voluntary
Management
Committee
•
•
•
North Walsham
Town Council
•
•
•
North Walsham
Tennis Club
•
•
•
•
•
Badminton
•
•
•
•
•
Table Tennis Club
•
Gymnastics Club
•
•
Issue Raised
Why are other Sports Centres not being
considered
The proposal seems to be tied in with the
running of the Atrium but money must not be
diverted from supporting the Sports Centre to
help with the Atrium’s financial situation
North Walsham High School has little idea of
how the centre is run and the input provided by
volunteers
Concern was expressed in discussion that the
High School is struggling to attract more users
to the Atrium and there is no clear management
structure or business plan.
Loss of the facility would lead to increased
crime and disorder problems.
Trust model preferred
Old tarmac courts now almost unusable.
The new courts on Memorial Park could work
better with the Dual Use facility.
Sceptical of the schools ability to manage the
facility.
Concerned with risk of closure.
Accepted the potential benefits of a charitable
sports trust
Concerned that the school will close the facility
after the two years
Is this the end of the Management Committee
Are staff being retained
Why doesn’t the Council just increase fees to
prevent this happening
What happens if the School isn’t able to
maintain the community use of the facility
Any surplus cash will go to the Atrium and sport
could lose out if the two were merged
Charges could rise too much
Happy to work with whoever is running the
facility to get capital improvements in the centre
Karate
•
•
•
•
Tai Chi
•
Will the school close during the holiday period
School Open Evenings – will bookings be
honoured
Complaints procedure, schools not always so
good as LA
Will there will open access to clubs and not
preferential treatment to school activity
Main concern about already low numbers being
put off by significant price rises