DUNDEE SPORT AND PHYSICAL ACTIVITY IMPLEMENTATION GROUP
Note of Meeting held on Tuesday, 22 April 2014
Conference Room, Central Library
Present: James Fenna, Active Schools Manager
Ross McGuire, Leisure & Culture Dundee
Stewart Murdoch, Chief Executive’s Department, DCC (Chair)
Derek Napier, Ancrum Outdoor Activities Centre, DCC
Gary Robertson, Environment Department, DCC
Merrill Smith, Chief Executive’s Department, DCC
Apologies: Osla Allen, Institute of Sport, University of Dundee
Karen Dammer, Education Department, DCC
Euan Lowe, sportscotland
Ian McGregor, sportscotland
Sylvia Mudie, NHS Tayside
Claire Peters, sportscotland
Graham Wark, Leisure & Culture Dundee
Audrey White, Leisure & Culture Dundee
John Whyman, Environment Department, DCC
No. / Item / Action /1. / Minute of Meeting held 23 January 2014
Approved.
2. / Matters Arising
2.1 / Update on Sports Hub Development
Ross reported good progress with the development of the six Sports Hubs established in Dundee. A copy of his briefing note to the meeting is attached.
It was noted that Daryl McKenzie had now been successful in securing a new post within Leisure & Culture Dundee and that his previous post of Sports Hub Development Officer was currently at advert and would be filled for the period up until April 2015, beyond which no funding had been secured. / Graham
2.2 / Dundee Booklet
Merrill advised that Leisure & Culture Dundee were now on Dundee Booklet and that the next priority was for Dundee Education establishments followed by community centres, the Outdoor Education Team and the Environment Department.
2.3 / Outdoor Learning Strategy
Derek advised the planned development of performance indicators for the delivery of outdoor learning were to be discussed by the strategy group and should be available by the end of May 2014. / Derek
A water sports open day is being arranged for either 28 or 29 June.
2.4 / Integrated Holiday Programming
James advised that a meeting had been called by John Skelly to bring forward an integrated holiday programme for summer activities 2014.
This meeting was to take place on 24 April and a note of key points arising would be circulated as soon as possible. / James
2.5 / Sport and Physical Activity Strategy Action Plan
Ross circulated an updated action plan which incorporated information provided by Leisure & Culture Dundee, Ancrum Outdoor Activity Centre, Sports, Tayside and Fife, and the Environment Department. Information from Abertay University, sportscotland, Active Schools and NHS Tayside was awaited and was now needed urgently. The intention was to complete the updated action plan for distribution to the Dundee Partnership by the end of May. / Ross
The integrated action plan would be complemented by a number of agency specific action plans which would allow for easier tracking of updates.
Group members were asked to provide comments back to Ross by 25 April. / Ross
A number of specific suggestions were made at the meeting in relation to layout and content.
It was agreed that Ross would re-circulate the draft around group members who would be invited to comment back by end of May. / All – Ross
It was also agreed that there should be a specific section of the action plan which addressed monitoring and evaluations. / Ross/Stewart
3. / Audit of Sports Facilities
Ross reported that data collection for the audit of sports facilities in Dundee had been completed and that there was now a list of facilities by type of facility (not sport).
Ross had also started the process of putting these facilities onto the Council’s GIS system. There had been IT difficulties with this and some advice from IT was required to allow the process to continue.
Gary questioned whether there might not be some duplication of effort between the work being carried out by the Environment Department and this exercise. It was agreed that Ross would liaise with those in the Environment Department responsible for developing GIS land use maps to try and overcome the IT difficultly and avoid any duplication of effort. / Ross
It was also agreed that a recall of the Dundee Facilities Planning Group was overdue and that efforts should be made to re-establish a regular programme of meetings. / Stewart
4. / Regional Performance Centre For Sport
Merrill advised that David Dorward would continue to chair the project steering group and that a working group had been established. This group would develop the brief first then complete all the detailed design work for the building and landscape. Layout plans for the site were being put together with options for the football clubs.
Caird Park and Camperdown Country Park will be fully option appraised against the brief.
A Transport Impact Plan would be created as part of the option appraisal.
Site visits to Newcastle and Sunderland were currently planned.
There would be ongoing consultations with national governing bodies.
5. / Commonwealth Games Legacy Plan
At its meeting on 21 April the P&R Committee of the City Council had received a report on the pre-games, games delivery and legacy plans for the Games (Report 164-2014 attached).
6. / Guidelines for Staff Undertaking Coaching
Ross provided an update on the advice from the City Council’s Insurers in light of a recent claim for damages. This advice clarified that a short simple to understand statement in the past has been accepted as having the greatest likelihood of success in the courts.
The following statement is recommended to be added to all consent forms and disclaimers:
“….. will not be liable for loss, damage or injury to customers property or person unless it can be demonstrated that …. have acted negligently"
Note: Although the main focus has been on the disclaimer wording, through discussion it is clear that the actions undertaken to ensure the safety of participants and visitors is ultimately more important. The claims that have been pursued are based on proving that some part of the health & Safety / risk assessment process has been missed or even completed insufficiently. There is an underlying concern that defending against this type of claim will always be a losing battle, however we must continue to do what is ‘reasonably practicable’ in addressing all health & safety aspects in advance.
The importance of having live risk assessments, which were updated on each occasion when coaching was undertaken, was being stressed as part of a cascade briefing to all coaches employed by Leisure & Culture Dundee.
7. / Updates
7.1 / NHS
Mary Colvin had sent through a briefing note (copy attached) regarding the national position on Physical Activity.
7.2 / Pitch Strategy
Gary confirmed that as a result of a range of developments the existing Dundee Pitch Strategy was to be updated and that work on this was to commence shortly. / Gary
7.3 / Clatto
Derek expressed regret about the absence of a strategy for using Clatto for outdoor learning activity. The former reservoir remained underutilised and in the absence of a Water Management Plan it was anticipated that blue/green algae would re-emerge as a problem which would restrict usage over the summer.
Gary confirmed that the reservoir had been transferred to the Environment Department from Scottish Water who no longer had use for it and it had presented a number of management challenges.
The Environment Department were working to improve the general physical environment round the reservoir but had not yet come up with a clear strategy for how the water would be managed. It was agreed that Derek, Gary and colleagues should meet to discuss this problem and prepare a briefing for the Chief Executive. / Gary/Derek
7.4 / School Sports
James advised that with the support of funding made available by sportscotland, the local authorities across Tayside and Fife have worked together to employ a Regional Schools Support Development Officer for a two year period.
7.5 / Environment Department Update
Gary summarised some of the key points from the detailed update provided by John Whyman which is attached to the minute.
His highlighting referred specifically to the Green Circular, the off road cycle track in Templeton and development of MUGAs in Baxter Park and an active play area in Magdalen Green, along with development of a community allotment initiative in Douglas.
8. / Dates of Future Meetings
Tuesday, 15 July 2014 at 2.00 pm – Conference Room, Level 2, Central Library
Tuesday, 21 October 2014 at 2.00 pm – Dundee Ice Arena
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