The Head of Environment and Leisure introduced the report which set out the recommendations from the Members Leisure Working Group (MWG) on the car parking refunds policy for the leisure centres and the recommended capital investment from the council to fix general issues at the three leisure sites.

The Head of Environment and Leisure gave a verbal update to inform Members that the Faversham Swimming Pools Board had met earlier in the week and they formally agreed to join the new Swale Leisure contract.

The Chair invited Members to make comments on recommendation one, and these included:

·      The Sheerness Leisure site would be affected because the levelling-up bid works proposed moving the car park;

·      the leisure centres needed to be accessible for all users;

·      car park refunds encouraged the use of the leisure facilities;

·      removing the parking concessions would result in people not visiting the leisure centres;

·      Isle of Sheppey residents had long journeys to get to the facilities;

·      preferred having no refunds in place to encourage the use of public transport or active travel to leisure sites;

·      could there be an option to give refunds to those residents who are on low incomes?;

·      welcomed Faversham pools joining the leisure contract;

·      the recommendations set out in the report made it fair across the whole borough;

·      welcomed the additional capital investment to improve the background equipment of the leisure centres;

·      some residents struggled to get to certain centres because they lived in rural areas of the borough with little transport links;

·      residents had to use public transport or other forms of transport to get to the centres;

·      Faversham pools often had large vehicles use the car park; and

·      hoped for a contractor that would come forward with ideas on how the leisure activities could be improved in the borough as well as coordinating the activities to make the accessible for all.

The Head of Environment and Leisure clarified that the intention at the Sheerness site was to move the car park due to the creation of a new entrance, but to keep the refund policy in both the Beach Street, Sheerness and Beachfields, Sheerness car parks.

The Head of Environment and Leisure understood the need for there to be a balance between encouraging health and wellbeing activities and meeting the Council’s budget challenge. The report laid out the pros and cons for Members to consider.

The Chair invited Members to make comments on recommendation two, and these included:

·      Supported the Council in making capital investments into Council owned assets to improve the facilities for residents;

·      needed to make sure there were lots of opportunities for the local communities to have an opinion about how the leisure centre were run; and

·      was there a requirement for the new contractor for the leisure centres to facilitate a community voice forum?

The Head of Environment and Leisure responded and said that there had been strong community voice in the levelling-up scheme at Sheerness. He said that a lot of the £2 million capital investment was needed to fix and improve the basic running costs of the leisure centres such as air handling and boilers. During the tender process the Council would be asking the contractors what sort of activities they wanted to introduce to improve the variety of activities available to the local community and if they would invest their own capital. The new contract required the contractor to set up user forums to make sure the community voice was better heard.

Resolved:

(1)   That the car parking refunds be reduced to a period of one hour only for all sports activities at Swallows and Sheppey Leisure centres and a one-hour refund at Faversham Pools be introduced, effective from 1 April 2027.

(2)   That the £2 million capital investment be referred to the Policy & Resources Committee for budget allocation and approval.