The Leisure Strategy was one of the key strategies as set out in the Vision for Brentwood 2016-19 document. The Council had ageing facilities and needed to ensure that its leisure facilities were not only fit for purpose but for the future.

The Strategy and action plan set out the vision, what the Council needed to achieve, the challenges it faced and how the priorities and outcomes had  been identified. The Leisure Strategy was a large piece of work, so it had been split into workstreams to enable its delivery. The Strategy would cover a period of 10 years, but the supporting action plan would be a live document which would be reviewed and updated regularly to note the progress on the delivery of the Strategy.

A motion was MOVED by Cllr Hossack and SECONDED by Cllr Poppy to approve the recommendations in the report.

A vote was taken by a show of hands and it was RESOLVED UNANIMOUSLY:

1.    That Members agree the Leisure Strategy and action plan at Appendix A (of the report).

2.    That Members refer the Leisure Strategy to Policy, Projects and Resources Committee on 18 September 2018 for their consideration.

Reasons for Recommendation

As part of the Council’s due diligence in delivering a successful Leisure Strategy, Members and officers needed to have a complete picture of the current associated costs, risk profiles of the Borough’s Leisure facilities and identify opportunities for income generation.

Comments received from Sport England as part of the Local Development Plan consultation, stated that a Leisure Strategy was required that assessed Council owned sports and leisure facilities in order that the Council could continue to work with partners to ensure that appropriate provision was made for the residents of Brentwood. The strategy should have not only considered how the Council could provide services, but also how other partners could. The strategy should have also used current sports facility evidence to identify strategic priorities to then inform what would be included in the Council’s Infrastructure Delivery Plan.  Following the feasibility work, the Council would then be able to determine which projects would be funded by the Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) and those funded by planning obligations.

The Council’s Asset Management Strategy 2014/15 also set out the need to obtain maximise income where possible from its asset portfolio.