Decision details

Before the Committee was a report by the Director for the Economy, copies of which had been circulated to all Members and a copy of which is attached to the signed copy of these minutes as Item 10. 

The report updated members of the Committee on the leisure services in Adur following the insolvency of Adur Community Leisure and sought agreement on a way forward for the reopening of leisure facilities in Adur District.

Members were updated on developments following the report to Committee in July and it was noted that given the community need and extreme urgency to activate the venues as soon as practical, it was intended to let a shorter term contract rather than undergo a full procurement process at this time. 

This could be done by using the Cabinet Office Procurement Policy Note PPN01/20 which remained in force, and enabled the Council to negotiate and make a direct award. 

In response to the public question from Mr Cornish, the Director for the Economy advised the Committee that the intention was to see if the Council could get much of the leisure provision for Adur up and running again as quickly as possible following the collapse of Impulse Leisure.  To achieve this, the Council intended to award an interim contract in the first instance to a financially resilient provider, with the view to letting a longer term contract once the impact of the pandemic had lessened. At this point, any suitably qualified provider would be able to bid.

The recommendations were proposed by Councillor Angus Dunn, seconded by Councillor Neil Parkin and unanimously approved, as amended.

Decision:  

The Joint Strategic Committee 

1. noted the events and progress to date outlined within the report;

2. approved the creation of a budget of £353,000 to take forward the project as outlined in paragraph 6;

3. approved the use of Government Covid 19 Emergency Funding for this purpose;

4. delegated authority to the Director for the Economy in consultation with the Leader and the Executive Member for the Environment to award an Adur Leisure Service Provision Contract if the opportunity arose prior to the November meeting of JSC; 

5. delegated authority to the Director for the Economy to negotiate the purchase of ACL assets (including any potential lease arrangements) to enable ongoing service delivery;

6. noted that a further report would be presented to the committee in November updating members on progress, whether or not a new provider had been identified, and/or the Director for the Economy, in consultation with the Leader and Executive Member, had exercised his delegated authority, as above.