Agenda and minutes

To receive any apologies for absence.

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Mrs Fraser, Taylor and Mrs Wilkinson.

To approve the minutes of the previous meeting.

Peter Lemon, Chairman of the Alive Leisure Board requested to comment on the minutes and against normal practice the Chairman permitted him to comment.  Peter Lemon felt that the minutes of the previous meeting regarding the Alive Leisure Fees and Charges did not reflect the discussions held.  He felt that the Panel were generally in support of the proposals, just with a few tweaks.

The Chairman, Councillor Sampson acknowledged the comments made and explained that they would be recorded, but he felt that the minutes were an accurate reflection of proceedings.  He asked the Panel if they had any comments to make on the accuracy of the minutes of the previous meeting and there were no comments.

RESOLVED: The Minutes from the previous meeting were agreed as a correct record and signed by the Chairman.

Please indicate if there are any interests which should be declared.  A declaration of an interest should indicate the nature of the interest (if not already declared on the Register of Interests) and the agenda item to which it relates.  If a disclosable pecuniary interest is declared, the Member should withdraw from the room whilst the matter is discussed.

Those declarations apply to all Members present, whether the Member is part of the meeting, attending to speak as a local Member on an item or simply observing the meeting from the public seating area.

There were no declarations of interest.

To consider any business which, by reason of special circumstances, the Chairman proposed to accept as urgent under Section 100(b)(4)(b) of the Local Government Act, 1972.

There was none.

Members wishing to speak pursuant to Standing Order 34 should inform the Chairman of their intention to do so and on what items they wish to be heard before the meeting commences.  Any Member attending the meeting under Standing Order 34 will only be permitted to speak on those items which have been previously notified to the Chairman.

Councillor David Pope – EC70 and EC71.

If any.

There was none.

To consider passing the following resolution:

“That under Section 100(A)(4) of the Local Government Act, 1972, the press and public be excluded from the meeting for the following item of business on the grounds that it involves the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in paragraph 3 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A to the Act”.

RESOLVED: That under Section 100(A)(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the press and public be excluded from the meeting for the following items of business on the grounds that they involve the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in paragraph 3 of Part 1 of Scheduled 12A to the Act.

Simon McKenna, Chief Executive of Alive Leisure thanked the Panel for the opportunity return to present their revised proposals.  He provided the Panel with an update on progress since Alive Leisure had attended the Environment and Community Panel Meeting in December 2017.  He explained that following the December meeting, officers from Alive Leisure had carried out further work, taking into consideration the concerns and feedback provided by the Environment and Community Panel.  He also made reference to correspondence received from the Council’s Management Team regarding the proposed changes to fees and charges.

Tommy Goode and Deborah Chapman from Alive Leisure provided the Panel with information on how the comments of the Panel had been taken into consideration, the revised proposals for fees and charges and the ongoing budget challenges.

The Chairman thanked the representatives from Alive Leisure for presenting the revised proposals and invited questions and comments from the Panel, as summarised below.

The Vice Chairman, Councillor Bambridge commented that she could not find figures for the over 60/65 prices.  She asked if the current, first proposal and revised figures could be provided to the Panel for all fees and charges.  The Chairman agreed that it would have been useful for the Panel to see all the information and statistics available.

In response to a question from the Vice Chairman, Tommy Goode explained that 9% of children who attended the holiday activity programmes were from deprived areas.  He clarified that over 5,000 children had attended the activities.

In response to a further question from the Vice Chairman, Tommy Goode explained the proposals for Alive Leisure Cards and Memberships.  He explained that work would be carried out to standardise membership options.  At the request of the Vice Chairman, Tommy Goode agreed to provide statistics on users by age range.  He explained that with regard to gym memberships, most memberships were provided to the 25 to 40 year old category.

In response to a question from Councillor Mrs Collop, it was explained that membership subscriptions had been looked at to ensure that they remained competitive.  A concession on memberships was also to be introduced.

Councillor Collop referred to the promoters cost for the Corn Exchange and it was explained that promoters usually dictated the price of the tickets with the Corn Exchange retaining a percentage of sales.  Deborah Chapman explained that programming at the Corn Exchange was continuously looked at to ensure that accurate projections were available, comparable offerings were provided each year and ways to increase income were investigated.  The Panel was informed that there was a 64% occupancy average at the Corn Exchange during the year.

The Portfolio Holder for Culture, Heritage and Health, Councillor Mrs Nockolds felt that it was important that Alive Leisure looked at ways to increase participation by providing extra outreach work and encouraging young people to participate in sport.  Tommy Goode agreed that this area of work was important and a post had been created as part of the Fitness Review which would deal with  ...  view the full minutes text for item EC70:

Councillor Middleton provided the Panel with an update on the Discovery Centre.  He apologised for not being able to bring an update earlier, but he wanted to wait until progress had been made.

The Panel were provided with information on what had happened to the centre over the past year, the current position and what was to happen going forward.

Councillor Middleton informed those present that he had been appointed as the Borough Council’s representative on the Discovery Centre in May 2016.  He had subsequently become a Trustee of the Board.  The Panel was provided with information on the work which had been carried out with other organisations and the staff at the Discovery Centre.

The Chairman thanked Councillor Middleton for the update.

The Leader of the Council, Councillor Long explained that it was unusual for an Outside Body representative to take on this amount of work.  He wished to put on record his thanks to Councillor Middleton for the huge amount of work which had gone into bringing the centre to its current position and giving it a future.  The Chairman, on behalf of the Panel reiterated the Leaders comments and comments were made that without the work of Councillor Middleton the Discovery Centre would be facing an entirely different future.

Councillor Middleton responded to questions from the Panel regarding the future of the centre and how it would be used.

Councillor Middleton asked for his thanks to be recorded to Vince Muspratt, Lorriane Gore, Sarah Dennis and all other officers and staff involved, who had gone above and beyond their duties in dealing with the Discovery Centre.  He felt that it was a credit to all involved.

RESOLVED: (i) That the update was noted.

(ii) The Leader and the Panel commended the work of Councillor Middleton and thanked him for all his hard work.

(iii) Thanks to Vince Muspratt, Lorriane Gore, Sarah Dennis and all other staff involved be placed on record.

Members of the Panel were reminded that an eform was available on the Intranet which could be completed and submitted if Members had items which they would like to be considered for addition to the Work Programme.

RESOLVED: The Panel’s Work Programme was noted.

To note that the next meeting of the Environment and Community Panel is scheduled to take place on Tuesday 13^th February 2018 at 6.00pm in the Council Chamber, Town Hall, Saturday Market Place, King’s Lynn.

The next meeting of the Environment and Community Panel would be held onTuesday 13^th February 2018 at 6.00pm in the Council Chamber, Town Hall, Saturday Market Place, King’s Lynn.