MEMBER GROUP ON THE LEISURE
CONNECTION CONTRACT
Notes of a Meeting held on Thursday 8th May 2008
At the Council Offices, Kilworthy Park, Tavistock
Present:
Councillors: Mr N Morgan (Chairman); Mr A Bridgewater; Mrs C Marsh
Officers: Mrs C Aubertin; Mr T Beckett; Mr N Payne; Mr A Rose
75. APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE
Apologies for absence were received from Cllrs Mr D G Bater, Mrs K A Clish-Green and Mr C Jenkins.
76. NOTES OF PREVIOUS MEETING
The notes of the meeting held on 13th March 2008, were confirmed as a correct record.
77. MATTER ARISING
(i) Feedback from meeting on 8th November 2007 (Note 66(i) : 13.03.2008)
It was agreed to defer discussion on the contract paper until the Group’s next meeting when it was hoped that there would be a full attendance. In the meantime it was noted that there had been some minor improvement in the operation of the contract.
78. FEEDBACK FROM MEETING WITH GRAHAM FARRANT (CHIEF EXECUTIVE OF LEISURE CONNECTION) ON 10th APRIL 2008
Nick Payne reported back on the meeting with Leisure Connection’s Chief Executive, Graham Farrant, to which Cllr C Jenkins and Terry Beckett had also attended. This formal meeting followed a ‘by chance’ informal meeting earlier in the year.
In discussions, Mr Farrant appeared to take on board the concerns of the Council regarding the operation of the contract. Mr Farrant was also interrogated regarding the profit sharing element of the contract and he advised that any reasonable profit share payments were unlikely because of increasing utility costs and the tapering management costs scheme contained within the contract. During the meeting Mr Farrant had indicated that Leisure Connection would participate in providing a number of improvements, such as co-funding new ceiling tiles for Meadowlands, and a letter of commitment from Leisure Connection was anticipated.
Both parties were seeking an improvement of usage of the facilities and there was some indication of a slight increase in numbers attending the two leisure centres. There were also provisional plans to re-launch Meadowlands on the event of its twentieth anniversary.
It had been a generally positive meeting and a further progress meeting was tentatively planned to take place in two to three months time.
Mr J Bradbury of Leisure Connection joined the Meeting at this point.
79. NEW BOILERS AND ULTRA VIOLET WATER TREATMENT AT MEADOWLANDS
Terry Beckett reported that the new gas boilers and the new ultra violet water treatment unit were functioning well and providing good quality water. There was a problem, however, with maintaining a regular water temperature of 300C with the aging control system becoming temperamental. Rather than instruct Leisure Connection to repair the original valve control mechanism, Terry Beckett had obtained quotes for a new more responsive replacement unit. He added that he had asked for a financial contribution from Leisure Connection. The installation of the replacement control unit together with the new gas boilers and ultra violet water treatment unit should show some savings on the utility costs.
80. PARKLANDS DEFECTS
Nick Payne reported on the difficulties of gaining any response from the architects Burke Rickhards. There were a number of issues outstanding which needed to be resolved before the contingency account could be released. There were issues relating to clarifying design faults against build faults and where to lodge any resulting claims, i.e. with either Burke Rickhards and/or Kier Construction.
It was agreed that the issue be referred to the Management Board at the earliest opportunity for guidance on how best to proceed. It was noted that Penwith District Council in West Cornwall was experiencing the same problems with the same two parties and had been so for about 5 years.
81. MEADOWLANDS USER GROUP MEETING (11/03/08)
Terry Beckett reported on the meeting of the Meadowlands User Group held on 11th March 2008. There had been a good level of debate on topics ranging from the installation of the new cubicles, catering and operational matters, including that the level of cleanliness had improved. There was some concern, however, in the fact that a number of items arising from the previous meeting some six months earlier had not been actioned until the day before this latest meeting. Mr Bradbury agreed to make some enquiries on this issue.
82. NEW CUBICLES FOR MEADOWLANDS (UPDATE)
It was reported that because of manufacturing difficulties, the installation of the new cubicles at Meadowlands would now begin two weeks later than originally planned, on 19th May 2008. The installation work would be carried out over night enabling the pool to remain open to the public during the day.
83. CUSTOMER COMMENTS
The Group received and noted the customer comments recorded for March 2008. It was agreed that Terry Beckett would circulate to the Group the customer comments for April 2008 which had been received earlier in the day.
84. USAGE FIGURES
The Group received and noted the updated usage figures and a possible discrepancy was identified in the number of casual swims recorded for the Parklands Leisure Centre. Mr Bradbury agreed to investigate this discrepancy, anticipating a possible accounting error. It was further noted that there had been a slight increase in customers at Meadowland.
85. BALANCED SCORECARD
Terry Beckett displayed a sample balanced scorecard which had been developed using one of the Council’s Covalent software program. The scorecard would enable month-by-month comparisons to be easily made and would help in identifying long term trends.
Arising from the discussion the question of on-line booking for various services was raised and Mr Bradbury reported that for some activities on-line booking would not be suitable, however, some progress was being made in trialling a possible suitable program.
It was agreed that Terry Beckett would e-mail the balanced scorecard to Members of the Group.
86. OTHER MATTERS
(i) 90 – Day Plans
The Group received and noted the up-dated 90-Day Plans for both the Meadowlands and Parklands Leisure Centres circulated by Mr Bradbury.
87. DATE OF NEXT MEETING
Thursday 12th June 2008 : 4.30 pm : Parklands Leisure Centre, Okehampton.
(The Meeting terminated at 5.55 pm.)