Meeting documents

The Cabinet received a report on the evolving design, cost plan and business case to re-provide a combined community and leisure facility in Amersham serving the whole of the Chiltern District, and to seek agreement to develop and submit a planning application for the King George V Road / Chiltern Avenue site.

RESOLVED

The Cabinet received a report on the evolving design, cost plan and business case to re-provide a combined community and leisure facility in Amersham serving the whole of the Chiltern District, and to seek agreement to develop and submit a planning application for the King George V Road / Chiltern Avenue site. This would enable the project team to progress the RIBA Stage 3 developed design phase, also working up the cost plan and business case to a further level of detail, whilst commissioning surveys required to inform the planning application. The detailed report and appendices, which included the evolving business case could be seen on pages 111 - 172 of the reports pack.

The progress made to date was summarised by the Head of Healthy Communities, this covered the time from the initial findings of the 2015 structural survey to current concept design stage.

Amersham Town Council had provided strong support to the project by agreeing with the Council and Fields in Trust to swap land on the King George V playing field and increase the protection for a number of open spaces within Amersham. Public consultations had found strong local support for a redevelopment of Chiltern Pools, and for the bringing together of leisure and community facilities.

The facility mix would enable all identified needs to be addressed with the Health and Fitness Centre sufficiently sized to accommodate over 4,400 members.

Two business plan options had been developed (i) Base business plan with current membership rates projected forward to 2022 and (ii) Base business plan with with an increase in pricing reflecting the investment in to the centre. Both options allowed for the required loan funding to be repaid over a 45 year period.

The base business plan was anticipated to generate £1.2m benefit to the Council providing a £32m borrowing capacity, leaving a funding gap of circa £2 million; assuming the Council would invest the current £200k subsidy for its leisure management contract in the new development.

Applying a pricing structure that recognises the investment in the facilities, (option 1 in the Business Plan Update appendix 2) would increase the financial return to the Council, and was anticipated to generate £1.475m/annum, giving the Council a borrowing capacity of circa £38 million over 45 years.

It was expected that a ‘do nothing’ scenario would see the management fee paid by the Council to the operator increasing from 200k to an average of 700k per annum from 2021-2031. The increase required to address future operational and maintenance costs resulting from an aging centre. These costs would not address the improvements in quality required at the centre to continue to attract customers.

The current centre was responsible for the majority of the Council’s Co2 emissions and as such this was recognised as an inefficient use of energy. The new centre would be built using higher sustainability principles and have reduced operational costs.

The report had been presented to the Council’s Services Overview and Resources Overview Committees where Members concerns were noted. The Resources Overview Committee identified a number of risks. The minutes of that meeting can be viewed here https://isa.chiltern.gov.uk/democracy/ieListDocuments.aspx?CId=403&MId=3722&Ver=4  (pages 2-6).

At the invitation of the Leader, Councillors D Phillips, J Gladwin and P Jones addressed the meeting. Councillor Phillips and Councillor Gladwin reiterated the concerns raised by the Resources Overview Committee and spoke of the caution required when looking to enter in to a 45 year agreement. The Members highlighted that many of the high cost elements of the redevelopment produced marginal returns, such as the sports hall and squash court.  With health and fitness being the main profit generator, Councillor Phillips spoke of the risk in the membership number being forecast at 4400. There was also concern that BCC would not provide any funding toward the library facilities.

Councillor P Jones added concerns that squash courts were not in high demand and that projected membership was well in excess of the current level. Councillor P Jones added that the provision of affordable housing was also needed to be seen in more detail and was a key part of the scheme.

The Cabinet was advised that the squash facility would provide a flexible space which can be used for other activities. Should the squash facility not be in demand then the space could be used for additional health and fitness facilities. The sports hall, whilst not providing significant income would provide opportunities for much wider participation as identified in the needs survey.

The Head of Healthy Communities also advised that similar developments in other Districts had seen their provisionally set membership figures surpassed very quickly and initial demand had often been underestimated. It was further clarified that County Council officers had also been engaged with the project and were keen to support the library facility.

The Cabinet recognised the time and work put into the scheme to date and spoke of having confidence that the facility was viable and would deliver the Council an income stream. The need to improve the district’s physical and mental wellbeing was also highlighted. The Portfolio Holder for Support Services spoke of transferring the membership and financial risks to the future Operator. Opportunities would be explored for the other two centres in the District to take any steps necessary to withstand the competition from the Chiltern Pools redevelopment.

RESOLVED