Issue - meetings

The Committee considered the report of the Service Director - Legal and Business Operations, detailing the Call-In of Executive Decision CAB 21/22 33197 –  St Mary’s Leisure Centre.

Councillor Fitzhenry, Leader of the Council, Mrs Ramana, Nick Chaffey, Katherine Clarke and Mr Farooq, local residents were in attendance and with the consent of the Chair addressed the meeting. 

RESOLVED that Cabinet reconsider the called in decision at the next decision meeting.

The following recommendations were made to be addressed by Cabinet at 14 March 2022 meeting:

• That Cabinet do not proceed with the decision agreed at 21 February 2022 meeting to close St Marys Leisure Centre and that Cabinet seek to find a partner to keep it open for community use.

If the Administration is not minded to accept this recommendation it is recommended that:

A)  The Administration honours the Leader’s commitment to the community and restricts the sale of the building solely for affordable housing or community use.

If the Administration is not minded to accept this recommendation, or is unable to meet this commitment, it is recommended that: 

• The outcome of the Best Value consideration report which determines the viability of restricting disposal of the site for residential use, as outlined in recommendation two of the Cabinet report, is reported back to this Committee at the appropriate time.

B)  The Administration honours the Leader’s commitment to the community that all or some of the capital receipt raised is re-invested in the local community, that the community are meaningfully involved in determining how the money is spent, and, that the Administration report back to this Committee at the appropriate time on how this has been achieved.The Committee have expressed support for initiatives that promote the health and wellbeing of the local community.

If the Administration is not minded to accept this recommendation it is recommended that:

• The criteria for determining the level of capital receipt to be re-invested in the local community is provided to the Committee.

• The Administration report back to this Committee at an appropriate time outlining how it has utilised the capital receipt to benefit the local community.

C)  That a public meeting is held within the community to enable answers to be provided to the questions that still remain unanswered, specifically those relating to how the capital receipt will be spentand how they will be involved in determining the need in the community.