Meeting documents

The Chairman asked that item 9 on the agenda be considered first and the Committee agreed.

An update to the Chiltern Pools redevelopment project was provided to the Committee.  The planning application for the project had been submitted that day.  Public information events had been held and the comments received were listed on the website.  Those against the project had said that they were concerned about the loss of flumes at Chiltern Pools and the loss of open green space.  The Leisure Members Working Group considered the responses and it was being investigated whether the loss of the flumes could be mitigated by more flotation devices at Chesham and Chalfont St Peter leisure centres.

It was noted that restrictive covenants applied to the Chiltern Pools and wider leisure and community site. Although legal opinion had advised that the covenants are obsolete and unenforceable, it was recommended that insurance be taken out to cover the Council against the possibility of future claims.

With regard to the children’s play area, a letter of intent was required from CDC to the Fields in Trust, to ensure that the land would be protected under the FIT covenant.  This would progress the land swap so that the Children’s Play area could be relocated and retained.

An options appraisal had been carried out on the enabling development and the constraints and opportunities were set out in the report.  The residual land valuations were provided in the private appendix and were in accordance with the assumptions made in the business plan for the Chiltern Lifestyle Centre.

Members were concerned that the latest public engagement had not been extensive enough.  There was also concern that the flumes were currently one of the reasons for the current success of the pools and requested a study be undertaken to find out exactly how important they were. 

Members expressed views that the assumptions around how realistically the anticipated health and fitness membership forecasts would be achieved as they were a key risk for the project. This would be something the Scrutiny Sub Committee would wish to examine in detail.   It was requested that these concerns be added to a future agenda for the new Chiltern Lifestyle Centre Scrutiny Sub Committee.

Members felt it would be helpful for the new Scrutiny Sub Committee if it had at its first meeting relevant extracts from the minutes of this cycles meetings of the Services and Resources Overview Committees.