Meeting documents

To note the minutes of the meeting held on 31 July 2019.

The minutes of the meeting held on 31 July 2019 were noted.

There were no declarations of interest.

To resolve that under Section 100(A)(4) of the Local Government Act 1972 the public be excluded from the meeting for the following item(s) of business on the grounds that it involves the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Part I of Schedule 12A of the Act.

RESOLVED

That under Section 100(A)(4) of the Local Government Act 1972 the public be excluded from the meeting for the following item(s) of business on the grounds that it involves the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Part I of Schedule 12A of the Act.

Paragraph 3 Information relating to the financial or business affairs of any particular persons (including the authority holding that information).

The Committee received a report which provided an update on the current position regarding the procurement of the Chiltern leisure operator contract and sought approval to amend the capital programme 2020/21 to undertake the capital investment in the Chesham and Chalfont leisure centres; to enter in to leases with the chosen leisure operator to occupy the Chiltern Lifestyle Centre, Chesham and Chalfont leisure centres and the Chiltern Pools and; for the new leisure operator contract for the operation of the centres to be signed.

The sub-committee was advised that the approach taken was to tender for a Mandatory Solution of operating the Chiltern Lifestyle Centre and the Chesham and Chalfont Leisure Centres for a 15 year period from 1 April 2020 with the option to extend the contract by 5 years. A Mandatory Variant Solution was also sought to enable the Council to appoint a leisure operator to manage the existing leisure centres for a 15 year period from 1 April 2020, should the Chiltern Lifestyle Centre not be developed, however this option would only have been evaluated if the decision was to maintain the continued operation of the Chiltern Pools for 15 years.

Bidders had been instructed to put forward investment proposals for the Chesham and Chalfont Leisure Centres to be delivered within the first year of the contract. This would enable the centres to remain vibrant and continue to attract market share. The Council would pay for the investment, however the fee payable by the operator would repay the cost of the loan to the Council.

The procurement of the Chiltern Leisure Operator contract had reached a satisfactory conclusion with Bidders exceeding the threshold income target of providing the Council with an average guaranteed net income of £1.2M/annum over a 15 year contract to operate the Chiltern Lifestyle Centre, and Chesham and Chalfont Leisure centres. All final tenders were fully compliant with the member policy decisions. If the highest scoring tender was accepted, the management fee to be paid by the leisure operator to the Council would fully fund the cost of borrowing, and lifecycle repairs to external structural elements of the building for which the Council would retain responsibility.

It was clarified that should the selected operator enter liquidation at any point during the term of the contract then either an insurance backed bond or parent company guarantee would be activated by the contract.

The Committee was taken through the key commitments and deliverables from bids received, and how estimated usage figures affected the business case. A detailed presentation was provided to the Committee and contained the proposals from the highest scoring bidder along with proposed design and layouts to the Chalfont and Chesham centres.

Members were encouraged by the proposed improvements to the centres at Chesham and Chalfont and recognised that these would help to offset potential customer loss to the proposed Chiltern Lifestyle Centre. With the improvements proposed an increased throughput to both centres had been predicted.

A Member queried whether the possible interest the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 23.