Agenda item

As detailed in the recommendations.

The Cabinet Member for Public Protection, Waste & Recycling provided an update on progress with the current Leisure Strategy and Management Actions.  Information was provided on the most up to date revenue budget monitoring information (Month 3) for Culture and Leisure Services in 2013/14 and the proposed budget re-alignment in relation to the facilities at Deeside Leisure Centre and the Jade Jones Pavilion, Flint.

During 2012/13, one-off provision was made in recognition of the anticipated shortfall in income during the first year of the leisure developments at Deeside Leisure Centre and the Jade Jones Pavilion Flint.  The new developments came on stream during the course of the year and trading income took time to develop.  This was acknowledged with the provision of £0.361m as a one-off allocation.

A number of financial pressures affecting the leisure budget were addressed in the 2013/14 budget round with the inclusion of £0.406m for reduced income, staffing budget shortfall, health and safety, music licensing, summer play schemes and play equipment.  However, challenges remained on the financial sustainability of the service caused by:

·        Longstanding underinvestment in maintenance and renewal across the extensive range of leisure provision in Flintshire

·        Creation of competing new facilities within the traditional catchment area for Flintshire’s specialist facilities, for example the new ice rink at Widnes

·        Challenging trading during the economic downturn

·        Meeting the capital cost of the refurbished facilities at Flint and Deeside directly from the leisure budget

·        Underachieving projections in the independent business plan for Deeside Leisure Centre and the Jane Jones Pavilion Flint

Leisure Services were unique in that the requirement to fund the capital developments at Deeside Leisure Centre and the Jade Jones Pavilion Flint from revenue budget is distorting the service’s true trading position.  An alternative would be to treat the funding of the developments in the same way that other capital financing repayments had been dealt with.

The original business plan had been revised to reflect current costs of operations and a reduced expectation of income growth.  The budgetary impact of that had been established as £0.505m and it was recommended that the sum should be allocated from the contingency reserve to alleviate the pressure in the leisure budget in 2013/14.  This would have the impact of reducing the in year overspend to £0.455m.

It was also recognised that there was a need to establish the budget for Leisure Centres on a sound footing going forward which would enable the service to have a more realistic budget against which to manage service provision pending a review of leisure service delivery as part of the Council’s programme of organisational change.  It would also provide a clearer focus for the work of the Overview and Scrutiny Task and Finish Group to review service delivery in the light of a revised business plan.  In order for that to be achieved, it was recommended that provision should be made in the Council’s MTFP for a base budget adjustment of £0.505m from 2014/15.

The ongoing revenue financing costs of the capital expenditure incurred on the improvements amounted to an annual cost of £1.052m.  It was recommended that the budget and expenditure for such costs should be moved to the Central & Corporate Finance budget where it would be included with all other capital financing repayments.

RESOLVED:

(a)       That the report and the update on the leisure action plan be noted;

(b)       That the transfer of the budget and expenditure for the costs incurred by the development of the new facilities at the Deeside Leisure Centre and the Jade Jones Pavilion Flint to the Central & Corporate Finance budget where it will be included with all other capital financing repayments be approved;

(c)        That the allocation of £0.505m from the contingency reserve to address the budget implications of the revised Leisure Centres business plan and the inclusion of this base budget sum within the Council’s MTFP from 2014/15 be approved; and

(d)       That the forthcoming Overview and Scrutiny Task and Finish Group work on planning for sustainability and the request for progress reporting to Cabinet in addition to Overview and  Scrutiny be welcomed.