Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from:

Councillor Pam Bosworth

Councillor Ben Green

Councillor Jane Kingman

Councillor Zoe Lane

Councillor Nikki Manterfield

Councillor Nick Robins

Councillor Penny Robins

Councillor Rob Shorrock

Councillor Ian Stokes

No interests were disclosed at this section of the meeting.

The Council welcomes engagement from members of the public. To speak at this meeting please register at least 3 working days before the date of the meeting via democracy@southkesteven.gov.uk.

Councillor Virginia Moran had an ‘Other Registrable Interest’ in item 4 – Request for a Financial Contribution, Deepings Leisure Centre.’ Therefore she would read out a statement in her capacity as Chairman of the CIC, and would leave the Council Chamber following the statement’s conclusion.

After being proposed and seconded, it was AGREED that Virginia Moran, Chairman of the Deepings Community Interest Company (CIC) be allowed to speak to the item on the agenda for up to 20 minutes.

Two Directors of the Deepings Leisure Centre Community Interest Company (CIC) provided their statement:

‘Good Afternoon and thank you for giving me the opportunity to present this request for funding towards the renovation and re-opening of The Deepings Leisure Centre and for your time this afternoon to give it your consideration. I have been an SKDC Councillor for Market & West Deeping for the past 5 years but today I am addressing you in my role as a Director of the Deepings Community Leisure Centre CIC. I have with me Martin Reilly who is the Director with responsibility for the refurbishment programme, Paul Smith Shelton, the Director with the responsibility for our illustrative cashflow and who is our liaison with organisations wishing to use the new facilities. Chris Davis is coordinating our grant applications, including the Commons Community Ownership Fund Bid, and the final Director is Ian Stygall, who is a commercial electrician and long-time Deepings resident.

Councillor Baxter will cover the history of the site when working through his presentation. This request is looking for this council's support to reinstate leisure facilities to thousands of residents in The Deepings and beyond, facilities that they have enjoyed for almost 50 years and which will bring parity with the other three towns of South Kesteven. Throughout all our previous battles to retain facilities we have had the unending support of residents and this has never wavered. The Deepings is truly the least supported area within SKDC and we have watched over the years as one service or facility after another has been taken away. We have no arts centre or large events venue, our community centre is run by volunteers, we now run our own immensely successful library (again with volunteers), we looked after ourselves during the pandemic with volunteers, we recently updated a little SKDC play park again with money raised by volunteers and so it goes on. We now wish to be given the means to run our leisure centre, again with volunteers on a not for profit basis.

I'd now like to comment on various aspects of the documents before you. Our Business Plan gives you an outline of the services we hope to provide, the repairs required and the funding sources for those repairs. I will say that to date (as recently as a couple of days ago) the support we have received from Lincolnshire County Council has been incredible and very much appreciated. At the closure and handing back of the centre to them by SKDC, they  ...  view the full minutes text for item 74.

To consider a recommendation from the Joint meeting of the Finance & Economic and Culture & Leisure Overview and Scrutiny Committees with regard to a request for one-off funding which has been received from Deepings Community Leisure Centre CIC in the sum of £850,000.

The report and appendices included within this agenda are those submitted for consideration at the Joint Overview and Scrutiny Committee meeting, scheduled to be held on 9 January 2024, which is after this agenda was published. Any recommendations or additional information arising from that meeting will be reported to this meeting of Full Council.

Council considered a report requesting a financial contribution for the Deepings Leisure Centre, taking into account recommendations from the Joint Finance and Economic & Culture and Leisure Overview and Scrutiny committees that met on 9 January 2024.

Council consented to extending the time for speeches from Councillors to 7 minutes.

Officers confirmed that advice had been received from the Building Control Manager that the whole of the building would need to be brought up to current Building Regulations if a heat source was to be introduced. The proposals before Members changed the heat source and did not introduce a new one, therefore paragraph 1.38 of the report was to be disregarded.

In moving the motion and additional recommendations, the Deputy Leader of the Council gave a presentation to Full Council on the proposal for a financial contribution, and highlighted the following points:

·         Deepings Leisure Centre was built in 1974. A promise for a new Leisure Centre was received in 2018, but the site was closed in July 2021 due to a lack of maintenance. A £10 million refurbishment was promised in December 2021, but this did not proceed, and the leisure was decommissioned in 2023 and handed back to Lincolnshire County Council (LCC).

·         The Deepings Leisure Centre Community Group was established in 2023, and there was political change at the Council.

·         Questions put by the Joint Meeting of the Finance & Economic and Culture & Leisure Overview and Scrutiny Committees on 9 January 2024 included whether the proposal was desirable, legal, affordable, achievable, and value for money, as well as a request of knowing what the risks might be.

·         The Deepings Swimming Club were currently training in other venues in the local area as they could not use the pool at Deepings Leisure Centre (DLC).

·         The model for DLC was that it would be owned by the Deepings CIC, but there would be a service level agreement (SLA) with a third-party provider. It was expected that the CIC would be able to engage with a third-party provider upon receipt of monies from the Council. The third party would be able to carry out marketing, membership signups and preparatory work to ensure DLC was ready for all its users.

·         A formal agreement with the Deepings School would be required.

In formally seconding the motion and additional recommendations, the Cabinet Member for Leisure and Culture highlighted the following points:

·         A number of suggestions were made during the Joint Meeting of the Finance & Economic and Culture & Leisure Overview and Scrutiny Committees on 9 January 2024.

·         Some of the quotes included as part of the information within the report were obtained from individuals that had previously worked at DLC, but also at other Leisure Centres within Lincolnshire.

·         The proposal included working with community groups to provide a blended management model utilising trained and committed volunteers, with the potential for the Deepings School to be more involved than they had been previously.

During debate on the proposals, the following points were highlighted by Members:

·         The time spent on  ...  view the full minutes text for item 75.

The meeting closed at 4:38pm.