Agenda item

6:30pm

-      Play Strategy

-      Skills

-      Leisure, Sport and Cultural Activities

-      Development of the site of the former Queen’s Park Sports Centre

Leisure, Sports and Cultural Activities

The committee were advised that the final outstanding issues at the new leisure facility had been resolved. The Chair agreed to check with the Assistant Director for Health and Wellbeing and email an update to all members of the committee.

Future use of the former Queen’s Park Sports Centre

Councillor Simmons, Lead Member of the Scrutiny Project Group, advised members that the planning application for the development of the sports pitch had been approved. There had been no objections from Historic England. The final surveys would take place in early November and the start date for the work would be confirmed by the Assistant Director for Health and Wellbeing as soon as possible. Work was expected to be completed at the end of January or in early February 2019.

Skills

Councillor Simmons, Lead Member of the Scrutiny Project Group, informed the Committee that the project group had formulated a project start report using the current Skills Action Plan and looking at the areas that required improvement.

The group planned to explore a number of specific topic areas including:

·        local labour agreements;

·        apprentice starts;

·        18-24 year olds not in education or employment; and

·        working with schools to develop skills tailored toward future jobs in the HS2 industry.

It was noted that a meeting had been held with Parkside School to discuss opportunities and the Cabinet Member for Economic Growth was satisfied with the plan.

Play Strategy

The Principal Green Space Strategy Officer informed members that the Play Strategy was written in February 2017 but there was no action plan in place. It had been decided that an open space assessment needed to take place. Consultants were appointed in March 2018. They undertook a desktop review, a site based assessment and in tandem ran a consultation on play. The members were consulted on a ward by ward basis and workshops were carried out with senior managers and cabinet members.

The Principal Green Space Strategy Officer explained that a local standard for all land use typologies had been agreed upon. The review had looked beyond ward boundaries and more at how settlements aligned themselves with play spaces.

The Play Strategy 2018-2028 report would set out what the process has been, highlight the consultation findings and detail what the standard will be going forward in terms of distribution of LAPs, LEAPs and NEAPs.

It was noted that most of spend in the past two years had been done through grants and in conjunction with community or friends groups. Funding had been secured for the skate park at King George V playing field and Derbyshire County Council funding had been agreed for Manor Road and Princess Street. The report would also request funding to address some of the immediate concerns around safer surfacing and a recurring budget to deal with significant repairs. The Cabinet Member stated that they would like to see a 5 year programme of work in the strategy.

A member asked the Principal Green Space Strategy Officer about the inclusion of wheelchair friendly equipment in play areas. The officer responded that there is an element of accessible play equipment in each play area as it is always part of the design brief. Consultation had taken place with Ashgate Croft Special School and their students indicated that they prefer to get out of their wheelchairs to use the equipment where possible. As levels of disability cover such a broad spectrum it would be difficult to provide equipment to meet all needs and financially challenging.

RESOLVED –

1.   That the updates be noted.

2.   That the Assistant Director – Health and Wellbeing provide an update via email to advise whether the final pieces of work at the Queen’s Park Sports Centre had been completed.

3.   That the Assistant Director – Health and Wellbeing communicate a start date for the work on the site of the former Queen’s Park Sports Centre via email.