PAPER
D
Purpose: For Decision
Date : 17 NOVEMBER 2004
Title : VENTNOR TENNIS CLUB
JOINT REPORT OF THE PORTFOLIO HOLDER FOR TOURISM
AND LEISURE AND THE PORTFOLIO HOLDER FOR RESOURCES
IMPLEMENTATION DATE : 29
November 2004
SUMMARY/PURPOSE
1.
To advise the Executive on proposals in respect of the
redevelopment of Ventnor tennis courts, and to consider a request from Ventnor
Tennis Club for assistance with the required capital investment.
RULE 15
ACCESS TO INFORMATION PROCEDURE RULES
2. This item was originally scheduled to
come before the Executive on 20 October 2004.
It was removed from the Forward Plan to be considered as part of the
budget setting process. Two of the
potential funding partners have given the Ventnor Tennis Club a deadline of the
end of November to confirm whether it will be accepting the grants offered to
it. If it cannot do so, then the offers
will be withdrawn.
BACKGROUND
3. The Council owned tennis courts in St.
Boniface Road, Ventnor, are coming to the end of their useful life and would
cost in the order £200,000 to fully reinstate. The Head of Property Services
estimates that up to £113,000 would be required to bring them up to an
acceptable condition. The courts are used by the Ventnor Tennis Club who
operate the site on an annual licence for the use of their members, the public
and visitors.
4. The Ventnor Tennis Club has grown in its
membership in recent years with numbers peaking in 2003, with over 60 adults
and 60 junior members. Junior membership has included regular coaching by Lawn
Tennis Association approved coaches. Membership has however declined over the
past year, and this is attributable to the condition of the courts and the fact
that only two out of four are in a playable condition. However since the
announcement of the development proposals their has been renewed interest and
it is anticipated that the previous membership level will be surpassed should
the development come to fruition.
5. Improvements to the courts has been of
low priority with a small annual sum being expended by the Council on their up
keep. In order to grow and develop the club has (with officers support) made over
recent years a number of grant applications to outside bodies. These
applications have the support of the Council by the way of a proposed long
lease of the site if they are successful.
6. Following the receipt of a tender of
£270,860 in March 2004 for a development the club have been actively raising
finance of £136,860 to match successful grant offers totalling £134,000 from Sport England and the
Foundation for Sports and Arts. The club have managed to raise £60,000 through
the Ventnor Town Council, and the Market Towns Initiative which is delivering
finance to assist the regeneration of Ventnor. The overall proposed funding
package which includes £16,860 of the club’s resources, is detailed at Appendix
A and includes a capital bid to this
Council for £60,000.The Ventnor Town Council has agreed to a loan to the club
for £30,000 on the basis that the Isle of Wight Council as landowner would
invest up to £60,000 in order to complete the funding package.
7. The Head of Property Services has
reviewed the proposed development and advises that the club could reduce its
costs by £25,000 if it deferred the implementation of the car parking element
of its proposals. This would reduce the
resource required from the Council to £35,000. The car park objective would
then be addressed by the club as a future second phase of the development
8. A further issue to be
considered is the need for the Council to also become the grant recipient from
Sport England and to take the responsibility for completing the works. As the
freeholder of the site, it is best placed to take the responsibility for
delivering the improvements and ensuring the sustainability of the site, as in
the recent projects at Ryde Bowls Club, both of which were supported by the
Council.
9. All options to progress
the scheme with funding partners have been thoroughly investigated. If the
scheme cannot be progressed, it is likely that the club may elect to pass the
site back to the Council.
Consultation
10. The Tennis Club with the Council’s support
have been working very closely with external funding partners on all aspects of
project development. Sport England and
the Lawn Tennis Association have worked very closely with the Club and the
Council on all design and development issues to ensure all strategic outcomes
can be met. At a local level the Club
has gained local support by presenting the project brief to both the local Town
Council and members of the Market Towns Initiative. The Club have also been
working hard to promote the scheme to local Hoteliers who have expressed a very
keen interest in promoting the facilities to guests.
11.
The second phase of consultation involved more detailed meetings between
Club officials and project managers from Property Services, who have supported on
the submission of details relating to the Capital Building Programme and its
related costings. Officers from the Sports Unit have assisted in the structure
and content of the Club’s Development Plan, linking back to Lawn Tennis Associations
Club Vision Model.. As part of the new School Sport Coordinator programme
Local Schools in the area have expressed an interest in accessing the Club to
extend and enhance the delivery of its Physical education curriculum. The
Regional Sports Board will be making a formal decision on Sport England’s
allocation on December 6th.
STRATEGIC CONTEXT
12. The provision of leisure facilities in
general supports two of the seven themes in the Community Strategy:-
·
Guaranteeing
the quality of life
·
Developing
Tourism
13. Action 1.75 of the Strategy refers to completing a
refurbishment of the Council’s leisure facilities by March 2007.
14. The Council’s corporate objective of “improving
health, housing and the quality of life for all” is underpinned by the
provision of opportunities for physical activity for the purposes of realising
health benefit.
15. Maximising the availability of high
quality cultural facilities and opportunities is one of the six themes of the
Island’s Cultural Strategy. One of the
outcomes of this theme at the end of the 5 year strategy will be a pro-active
approach to maximising the cultural benefit which the Island can gain from
attracting inward investment for cultural activities and prioritising Island
funding to lever in such funds.
16. In this context the freehold could not be
regarded as a “surplus asset” and therefore available as a potential
contribution to the Council’s capital receipts targets in the near future.
FINANCIAL/BUDGET IMPLICATIONS
17. The Council’s capital programme for the
current financial year was set in February and any resources allocated to this
project would need to be first call on next year’s capital programme. Capital
bids for next year have been invited and received, but have yet to be
prioritised. Officers have therefore scored the bid in accordance with the
Council’s Capital Strategy and Asset Management Plan. The resultant score is
consistent with those considered as next priority schemes as presented to the
Executive in February of this year.
18. If the project financing is not finalised
by 30th November then the approved grant funding will be withdrawn
and be no longer available to the club. The courts are in need of substantial
investment if they are to remain open, and if the club were to withdraw from
the site the Council will inherit the cost of maintaining the area as public
open space. Securing the site and necessary Health & Safety works would
cost an estimated £3,500, while the annual running costs of the site are
estimated to be £2,000 which equates to a full life cycle cost of £28,000.To
enter a full repair long term lease would eliminate the Councils future
maintenance liabilities.
19. If the club was unable to deliver its
business plan or a tennis facility was not able to continue the Council would
assume the liability for meeting the objectives of the grant funding.
LEGAL IMPLICATIONS
20. The Council’s powers to become the
applicant to Sport England and support the club are set out below:-
·
Section 19 of the Local Government (Miscellaneous
Provisions) Act 1976 gives the Council power to provide any recreational
facilities it thinks fit.
·
Section 19 further confers on the Council the power to
make grants or loans to voluntary organisations providing such recreational
facilities as the Council has the power to provide.
·
Section 2 of the Local Government Act 2000 provides
the Council with the power to do anything having regard to the Community
Strategy, to promote the economic, social and/or environmental well-being of
its area.
The
Council as landowner is responsible for statutory compliance in respect of
Health & Safety, accessibility and child protection.
OPTIONS
21. (i) To
approve the sum of £60,000 of capital investment in order to achieve the
proposed development.
(ii) To
approve the sum of £35,000 of capital investment to achieve the proposed
development without the car parking element.
(iii) To agree to a long term lease of the site to the club, with full
maintenance responsibility passing to the club.
(iv) To
decline the request for a financial contribution.
EVALUATION/RISK MANAGEMENT
22. Directors have previously discussed this
proposal in the light of the Council’s overall budget position for
2005/06. Directors agreed to advise the
Executive that this scheme could not be considered a priority. The timescales
associated with this funding application do not allow for any scheme by scheme
comparisons to be undertaken and it is therefore impossible for a judgement on
relative benefits to be made.
23. The
club currently has the operational responsibility for the site under its
existing licence. If the scheme were
not to proceed, it is probable that it would consider handing the site back to
the Council to manage with an expectation that the courts remain available for
public casual use as at present. For
the Council to undertaken the management of the site, a detailed analysis of
the risks, especially in relation to the fitness for purpose of the site would
be necessary. It is known that such an
analysis would tend to one of two options, either of which would incur capital
expense for the Council:-
·
Reinstate the facilities to a minimum safe acceptable
standard (cost circa £113,000)
·
Clear the site and return to public open space (annual
cost circa £2,000 and £3,500 for the
cost of initial clearance ).
24. As the recipient of the grant from Sport
England, the Council would be liable for any cost increases on the works to the
club over and above the current tendered prices. It will also, however be managing the works and therefore in the
optimum position to control potential cost over-runs.
25. One of the key liabilities
for the Council if it became the applicant to Sport England is that it would be
liable to repay the grant, should the site not be retained for tennis and if
the club is unable to deliver its development plan for the site on which the
grant was awarded. The club has
prepared a business plan for the operation of the site, post its development
and the Chief Financial Officer reports that the plan is satisfactory. The Club’s resources are minimal but it is
run on a prudent and sound financial basis.
26. The
lease already approved with the club will be for 25 years, a relatively short
period in land use terms. The capital
spend on the site will benefit the Council as freeholder and should the site
ever revert back to the Council, then it would be the ultimate beneficiary of
the capital spend.
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RECOMMENDATIONS
27. That Option 2 be approved.
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BACKGROUND PAPERS
·
Correspondence with Ventnor Tennis Club
·
Correspondence with potential funding partners
·
Scheme design details
·
Executive Report - 24 May 2001
Contact
Point : John Metcalfe, Head of Community Development ( 823825 email:
[email protected]
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JOHN METCALFE
Head of Community
Development
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JOHN FLEMING
Portfolio Holder
for Tourism and Leisure
REG BARRY
Portfolio Holder
for Resources
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