Agenda item

The Committee will receive a report on how the new facilities at the Chilterns Lifestyle Centre in Amersham have been received since the official opening in December 2021.

Contributors:

Richard Barker, Corporate Director, Communities

Sophie Payne, Service Director, Culture, Sport and Leisure

Sue Drummond, Head of Leisure

The Chairman welcomed Sue Drummond, Head of Leisure, to the meeting.

During the presentation, the following key points were made:

·       The Chiltern’s Lifestyles Centre opened in December 2021. A flagship facility in Amersham, it was deemed an area of national best practice in terms of the quality of the sports and leisure offer, and a blueprint for leisure provision in Buckinghamshire going forward. The usage, access and customer feedback had been positive, but comments from members to shape the future leisure strategy were welcomed.

·       Despite Covid restrictions still being in place when the centre had opened, the number of visitors during the first few months had been high, with numbers reaching 817,000 by the end of September 2022.

·       The expansion of the centre had a particular focus on health and wellbeing. The number of swim memberships had exceeded expectations. However, residents were also using the centre for social meetings, with young people filling the library to study together.

·       An outreach development officer had been appointed to engage with communities and public health partnerships, such as LEAP. A range of GP referral schemes such as health and wellbeing programmes were also offered. With its connection to the local youth community building, young people also received opportunities for training, such as qualifying as lifeguards. A programme to engage with Ukrainian refugees was also offered.

·       The Chiltern’s lifestyle centre also offered a variety of sports, with basketball clubs, cricket, table tennis and badminton.

The following points were noted during the Committee’s discussion:

·       Members welcomed the development of the centre and were pleased about the positive reception from visitors. The teams involved in the project were thanked for their work.

·       The centre had presented a number of challenges in the early days, particularly around cleanliness and the number of visitors. However, the team continued to monitor these issues closely. A member also noted that the booking system needed to be easier to use, which would be fed back to the operator.

·       A leisure strategy for the whole of the county was noted to be in development. An analysis of gaps in leisure provision was currently being undertaken, with a particular focus on population growth. Provision of a similar facility in other areas would require a business case and discussions with partners, community boards, parish councils and local stakeholders.

·       A member raised concerns about the rising energy costs and asked about ways these could be mitigated. It was noted that the Centre was equipped with solar panels, which not only provide energy to the facility but also produced additional energy. The facility had also received a high energy efficiency rating. The Chiltern Lifestyles Centre also proved to be lucrative, generating a net income of £2m per year. Thus, officers were confident that the offer would be maintained going forward.

·       Pupils have been seen to use the facility for study, as did people who wished to work collaboratively instead of at home.

·       A member asked whether there were plans to further engage people aged 16-24, as well as those over 50, who currently showed less usage of the facilities. More funding for school sports had been received for young people in recent years, encouraging them to be more active. The centre itself also looked at a range of holiday programmes offering specific sports such as basketball and cricket.

·       More focus had been placed on older adults, with senior sessions of badminton and table tennis happening regularly. Furthermore, walking football and netball session would be introduced shortly. Campaigns were also being done to increase activity for older residents. A larger Health and Wellbeing programme had also been established with the Live Well Stay Well programme. It was also noted that targets had been set before the pandemic, which resulted in some groups being less represented. However, these were being reconsidered for the future, to ensure that the whole community was able to use and benefit from the facility.

·       The Chairman suggested that consideration should be given to offering family memberships, as some residents had indicated that the cost of individual memberships was prohibitive. It was also noted that the car parking charges presented an issue for some residents. Whilst there were no current plans to change the parking charges on-site, there may be an opportunity to consider other areas nearby which would not amount to the same cost.