Meeting documents

Apologies were received from Tim Butcher and Julie Ward. Members noted that Lesley Clarke OBE and Jean Teesdale had been substituted onto the Committee for this meeting.

To disclose any Personal or Disclosable Pecuniary Interests

There were none.

The Chairman will explain how this special meeting of the Finance, Performance and Resources Select Committee will be conducted.

The Chairman welcomed everyone to the meeting, particularly members of the public who were in attendance and then outlined how the meeting would be conducted.

The Committee will take advice as to whether the request to Call-In Cabinet Member decision R04.17 Decision to close Bucks Sports and Social Club is valid.

Contributors:

Mrs Sarah Ashmead, Assistant Chief Executive and Monitoring Officer, BCC

Mrs Linda Forsythe, Corporate Lawyer and Deputy Monitoring Officer, BCC

Supporting Papers:

·         Cabinet Member Decision report R04.17

·         Call In request from Brian Roberts, County Councillor for Aylesbury South East, supported by fellow County Councillors Julie Ward and Niknam Hussain

·         Extract of BCC Constitution – Call in

The Chairman welcomed Mrs Linda Forsythe, Corporate Governance Lawyer and Deputy Monitoring Officer to the meeting.  Mrs Forsythe confirmed that the Call-in request received from Mr Brian Roberts, supported by Mrs Julie Ward and Mr Niknam Hussain was valid and she recommended that the Committee should consider evidence from both parties at the meeting.

The Committee will consider the submission from the County Councillors who called in the decision and witnesses they have invited to attend the meeting.

There will be 15 minutes to present the case, followed by an opportunity for the Committee to ask any additional questions.

Contributors:

Mr Brian Roberts, County Councillor for Aylesbury South East

Mr Niknam Hussain, County Councillor for Aylesbury South West

Mrs Julie Ward, County Councillor for Aylesbury East

Mr Rob Beel, Member of the Bucks Sports and Social Club

Mrs Jenny Hunt, Chairman of Stoke Mandeville Parish Council

Supporting Papers:

·         Submission from Mrs Jenny Hunt, Chairman of Stoke Mandeville Parish Council

·         Submission from Mr Rob Beel – To follow

·         Representations received in response to the Cabinet Member Decision

The Chairman welcomed Mr Brian Roberts, County Councillor for Aylesbury South East, Mrs Julie Ward, County Councillor for Aylesbury East, Mr Niknam Hussain, County Councillor for Aylesbury South West, Mr Rob Beel, Member of the Bucks Sports and Social Club and Mrs Jenny Hunt, Chairman of Stoke Mandeville Parish Council to the meeting.  The group were advised that they had a total of 15 minutes to present their case, followed by questions from the Committee.

During the presentation and in response to subsequent questions the following main points were noted:

·         In September 2016, Brian Roberts attended a meeting to discuss possible reforms to the Bucks Sports and Social Club and a potential lease arrangement. By the end of November 2016, the lease should have been prepared but nothing happened.

·         In March 2017, club staff raised a number of concerns with Brian Roberts as their local County Councillor and he took these issues to the Cabinet Member and relevant officers and suggested a further meeting should be held. Mr Roberts continued to press for Officers to meet with Members and Club Members, but this didn’t happen.

·         Finally on 24^th July 2017, two officers met with two club staff but the Cabinet Member decision recommending closure of the club had been published on 19^th July, to be taken on or after 27^th July.

·         It appeared that a draft lease had been prepared and a business case had been put together with a view to turning the club’s fortunes around and club members believed that this was being progressed.

·         Whilst Mr Roberts fully acknowledged that Buckinghamshire County Council faced financial challenges, he believed that local residents were right to raise concerns about a lack of engagement and consultation around the possible closure of the Club.  Stoke Mandeville Parish Council only heard about the possible closure on local radio station, Mix 96 which Mr Roberts felt was unacceptable. Over 800 people had signed a petition opposing the club’s closure.

·         There were a number of inaccuracies in the report, particularly around the membership figures.  The report claimed there were only 56 members, but the level of representations made on this decision illustrated the number of people who use the club regularly, many of whom had been advised that they could not become members currently.

·         There had been no consultation with local Members or the Greater Aylesbury Local Area Forum ahead of the Cabinet Member Decision report being published and no public consultation feedback had been included in the Cabinet Member report, despite the report template clearly indicating that consultation feedback should be included.  There was also no evidence that an Equalities Impact Assessment had been undertaken.

·         Wes and Mel Personal Training (WMPT Sparks) currently delivered their fitness classes at the Club and had been told that their bookings would be honoured to April 2018, although the Cabinet Member Decision stated bookings would only be honoured until 31^st October 2017.

·         There was a risk to the Council’s reputation due to the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

The Cabinet Member for Resources and Officers will attend the meeting to explain the reasons behind the recommendation to close the Bucks Sports and Social Club.

There will be 15 minutes to present to the Committee followed by an opportunity for Members to ask questions.

Contributors:

Mr John Chilver, Cabinet Member for Resources

Mr Lloyd Jeffries, Director of Operations, BCC

Dr Joe Nethercoat, Head of Strategic Assets, BCC

Miss Gill Smith, Facilities Manager, BCC

Supporting Papers:

·         Bucks Sports and Social Club report

The Chairman welcomed Mr John Chilver, Cabinet Member for Resources, Mrs Gill Quinton, Executive Director for Resources, Mr Lloyd Jeffries, Operations Director and Mr Oster Milambo, Deputy Head of Strategic Assets to the meeting.  The Cabinet Member and the officers were reminded of the time in which they had to respond, explaining the reasons behind the decision to close the Bucks Sports and Social Club, followed by questions from the Committee.

During the presentation and in response to Members’ questions, the following main points were noted:

·         The Cabinet Member thanked everyone who had submitted representations, as he was grateful to have the views of the public. There were over 60 representations and a petition with over 700 signatures.

·         The decision to close the Club had been a difficult one but the alternatives had been fully considered. Essentially the decision was a financial one – the Club was losing money and required significant capital investment to rectify a number of issues e.g. asbestos in the changing rooms.  The Council had no money to invest in the Club, the provision of which was not a statutory duty of the Council.

·         At the end of 2014, the Club was running at a loss of £12,000. The income of the Club was being subsidised at that time by NHS staff parking there during the week, but this was no longer the case. The projected overspend for 2017-18 was £65,000. The Club currently had 56 paying members, all BCC staff, previously in August 2016 the membership stood at 163.

·         When a site has been listed as an Asset of Community Value it is subject to certain regulations.  If the owner decides to dispose of the asset either through freehold sale or granting a qualifying lease of 25 years or more, this would trigger a period of consultation.  In this instance, BCC had not decided to dispose of the site.

·         Mr Chilver confirmed that he had consulted with Mr Roberts ahead of the Cabinet Member Decision being taken, but the report did not cover this in any detail.

·         Mrs Quinton acknowledged that there had been weaknesses regarding consultation but the facts remained that the Club was in poor repair, making a financial loss and had a 70% vacancy rate during the day. Although there had been discussions over a lengthy period regarding a transfer of the management of the Club, an agreement had not been reached.

·         New memberships had not been offered since BCC took over management of the Club as the future of the Club was uncertain.

·         Although there had been a series of meetings with County Councillors and the proposed Club Committee, BCC had never received a full business case or confirmation of a legal entity which could take over the lease and management responsibility for the Club.

·         In response to a question from a Member about a figure for VAT which appeared in the Profit and Loss sheet, officers were unable to explain why VAT had been included.

·         Carter Jonas had considered a  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

The Committee will consider the written submissions and further evidence they have heard during the meeting and will decide whether to uphold or to reject the Call-in request.

The Chairman invited Members of the Committee to share their views on the evidence which had been heard, with a view to deciding whether to reject the Call-in or to refer the decision back to the Cabinet Member for reconsideration.

The Committee unanimously agreed that the decision should be referred back to the Cabinet Member for reconsideration and advocated that Option 3 in the original report should be revisited, as there had been a lack of consultation with service users and local Members and the Club Committee had now organised itself more effectively and could be in a position to take over the management of the Club and make it profitable.

The Committee proposed that the Cabinet Member should take a period of three months to have further discussions with local Members and the Club Committee and then report back to the Select Committee on his decision.  The Cabinet Member agreed to this proposal.

Tuesday 26^th September 2017 at 10am in Mezzanine Room 1, County Hall, Aylesbury

Tuesday 26^th September 2017 at 10am in Mezzanine Room 1, County Hall, Aylesbury