Agenda item

Future use of the former Queens Park Sports Centre

Decision:

*RESOLVED –

1. That the outcomes of the public consultation on the future use of the former Queen’s Park Sports Centre site be noted.

2. That the motion passed by Council on 23 February, 2017, following the debate of a public petition calling for an ice rink to be built on the site of the former Queen’s Park Sports Centre, be noted.

3. That the outline business case for artificial sports pitches to be built on the site of the former Queen’s Park Sports Centre, as detailed in the officer’s report, be noted.

4. That the intention to use allocated funds budget savings/income generation to fund an internal secondment post to manage the project, be noted

5. That a full business case be prepared for submission to Cabinet and Council as part of any request for any future capital expenditure at the site.

6. That a planning application for artificial sports pitches on the site of the former Queen’s Park Sports Centre be developed at the same times as the preparation of the full business case for the site.

REASONS FOR DECISIONS

To enable Cabinet to establish a clear way forward on its preferred use for the former sports centre site, whilst recognising that further work is required before taking a final decision and before seeking approval from Council for any additional expenditure.

Minutes:

The Executive Director, Michael Rich submitted a report to update Cabinet on the progress of development plans for the future use of the former Queen’s Park Sports Centre site following the completion of the public consultation on potential future uses of the site. The report sought Cabinet’s agreement in principle that the preferred future use for the site should be the development of artificial sports pitches and also requested authorisation for a full business case for this option to be developed.

A public consultation had been carried out during September and October 2016 on the options for developing the site of the former Queen’s Park Sports Centre. The consultation had set out a single preferred option of artificial sports pitches, as well as providing information on a range of other possible uses for the site. The results of the consultation, to which 583 responses had been received, showed 69% of respondents agreeing with the preferred option of artificial sports pitches and 94% of respondents supporting the principles that any future development should meet, i.e. it should fit with the objectives of the council plan, integrate with the wider Queen’s Park site, have evidence of demand as well as being income generating. The Executive Director advised that the consultation responses had also provided a range of suggested alternative uses for the site, the most popular being an office/community/event space, ice-rink, water play area and other outdoor leisure provision, however none of these suggestions had met all of the essential criteria set out in the consultation.

The report noted that a petition containing over 1,000 signatures calling for an ice rink to be built on the site had been debated at Council on 23 February, 2017. As a result of the debate it had been resolved:

· That the council receives and notes the petition to turn the former Queen’s Park Sports Centre site into an ice rink.

· That the petition and tonight’s debate at Full Council be taken into account by Chesterfield Borough Council’s Cabinet when making the decision on a suitable use for the former Queen’s Park Sports Centre site.

· That the council, if approached by an ice rink operator, will assist with the identification of suitable sites and provide advice on planning and funding opportunities, including the development of external funding bids, in order to enhance the Borough’s sport and leisure offer.

As a result of the responses to the public consultation, an outline business case for the preferred option of artificial sports pitches had been developed and was included as an appendix to the Executive Director’s report.

The Executive Director advised that having done the preliminary work the outline proposals were now at a stage where they could be developed into a full business case. This would enable the necessary work to be carried out to test the assumptions within the outline business case and to enable further evidence to be gathered to support each element of the case. The financial and commercial elements of the business case were especially important and both required significant further work before a robust business case could be presented for consideration by Cabinet. The report also recommended that an application for planning permission for the artificial sports pitches should be prepared in parallel to the full business case so as to reduce the overall time required to bring forward development on the site.

The report also included details of the costs and human resource requirements that would be involved in the development of the full business case and noted that these costs would be contained within the approved sums allocated for budget savings / income generation in the Invest to Save and Service Improvement Reserves.

The Cabinet Member for Town Centre and Visitor Economy thanked Members, Scrutiny Members and Officers for their contributions both during the consultation as well as in the preparation of the outline business case.