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Agenda and minutes

Venue: via WebEx. Members of the public will be able to view the meeting via the Council’s YouTube page (https://www.youtube.com/WyreCouncil).

Contact: Emma Keany  Democratic Services Officer

Items
No. Item

22.

Declarations of interest

To receive any declarations of interest from any councillor on any item on this agenda.

Minutes:

None.

23.

Additional contract variation for Fylde Coast YMCA to facilitate the recovery of leisure centre provision- call-in pdf icon PDF 239 KB

The committee will consider the following decision made on 25 November 2020:

 

CAB.10 Decision:

Cabinet approved an additional subsidy of £340,165 in 2020/21 for Fylde Coast YMCA to enable the reopening of fitness gyms and classes at Thornton and Garstang leisure centres and the reopening of Garstang pool to trial public appetite for a return to swimming once COVID-19 restrictions were lifted. Fleetwood and Poulton leisure centres were to be kept under monthly review with a view to reopening and would be reopened as soon as it was viable to do so.

 

Cabinet also approved the undertaking of a procurement exercise at a cost of £30,000 to bring in external support to help with the development of a longer term strategy for sustainable leisure provision in Wyre and delegated authority for this commission to the Corporate Director Communities

 

The following documents are made available for the committee’s consideration:

 

 

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Councillor Lorraine Beavers referred to the call-in request that had been submitted, which detailed the reasons for calling in the cabinet’s decision. The decision was to approve an additional subsidy of £340,165 in 2020/21 for Fylde Coast YMCA to enable the reopening of fitness gyms and classes at Thornton and Garstang leisure centres and the reopening of Garstang pool to trial public appetite for a return to swimming once COVID-19 restrictions were lifted.

 

As part of this decision, Cabinet had detailed how Fleetwood and Poulton leisure centres were to be kept under monthly review with a view to reopening and would be reopened as soon as it was viable to do so. Cabinet had also approved the undertaking of a procurement exercise at a cost of £30,000 to bring in external support to help with the development of a longer-term strategy for sustainable leisure provision in Wyre and delegated authority for this commission to the Corporate Director Communities.

 

Councillor Beavers discussed the report that had been prepared by Councillor Lynne Bowen, Leisure, Health and Community Engagement Portfolio Holder and Marianne Hesketh, Corporate Director Communities, which was considered at Cabinet on 25 November 2020. She conveyed how she believed that the figures contained within the report were not sound enough to have made the aforementioned decision and went on to suggest that the Cabinet re-think their decision in light of additional information and additional views.

 

Councillor Beavers also referred to the fact that additional information had been requested for this meeting. Owing to the timing of the request and the work involved in pulling the additional information together the Chairman, following discussions with officers, determined that it had arrived too late to be able to be distributed effectively amongst Overview and Scrutiny committee members before the start of the meeting.

 

Councillor Beavers discussed various points including:

  • The alternative options that were stated to have been used to make the Cabinet decision,
  • The uses of membership figures in the report to Cabinet,
  • The expected travel distance for Wyre’s residents to be able to use the YMCA swimming pool in Garstang,
  • The use of Schools and Swimming Club data.

 

Councillor Beavers concluded by asking the Overview and Scrutiny Committee to support the call-in and to ask Cabinet to reconsider their decision.

 

Councillor Lynne Bowen and Councillor Alan Vincent were invited by the Chair to respond to the call-in and to address the points that had been raised by Councillor Beavers.

 

Councillor Bowen stated that the opening of Garstang pool was to ensure that most Wyre residents were within 20 minutes from their nearest open pool, according to Sport England guidance.

 

Councillor A Vincent spoke on the recommendation that was contained within the Cabinet report and explained the decision that had been taken.

 

Members of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee were given the opportunity to ask questions of the Call-In spokesperson and the Portfolio Holders.

 

Questions were asked regarding:

24.

Draft minutes that had been agreed by the Overview and Scrutiny Committee (18.01.2020) prior to the authorised change on 28.01.2020 pdf icon PDF 233 KB

Minutes:

Following discussions with the Monitoring Officer, the Corporate Management Team and Democratic Services, the Chair agreed to make a factual amendment to the minutes of the Overview and Scrutiny Call-In meeting held on 15.12.2020.

 

The minutes previously approved at the Overview and Scrutiny Committee, held on 18.01.2020, stated that the minutes should include:

She also made reference to the fact that additional information had been requested for this meeting but that it, unfortunately, had arrived too late to be able to be distributed effectively amongst Overview and Scrutiny committee members before the start of the meeting.”

 

However, following the aforementioned discussion, the minutes were changed to correctly reflect the occurrences of the meeting:

“Councillor Beavers also referred to the fact that additional information had been requested for this meeting. Owing to the timing of the request and the work involved in pulling the additional information together the Chairman, following discussions with officers, determined that it had arrived too late to be able to be distributed effectively amongst Overview and Scrutiny committee members before the start of the meeting.”

 

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