Report of the Strategic Director (Neighbourhoods)

This report provides an updated Neighbourhoods Service 2021/21 budget and sets out the savings proposals under the remit of the Communities and Equalities Scrutiny Committee, reflecting any feedback from both the November and January scrutiny committees.

The Committee received a report of the Strategic Director (Neighbourhoods) which provided an updated Neighbourhoods Service 2021/21 budget and set out the savings proposals under the remit of the Communities and Equalities Scrutiny Committee, reflecting any feedback from both the November and January

scrutiny committees.

The main points and themes within the report included:

• Neighbourhoods Directorate background and context;
• Neighbourhoods revenue budget strategy;
• Capital strategy;
• Workforce implications;
• Equality, diversity and inclusion;
• Public consultation; and
• Our Corporate Plan.

The Chair drew Members’ attention to point 2.6 in the report which outlined the Directorate’s commitment to Zero Carbon Manchester and reducing carbon

throughout all programmes of work.  He welcomed this and advised that the Committee would be looking at how this was being delivered.

Some of the key points that arose from the Committee’s discussions were:

·         Whether the funding Sport England had made available to local authorities who partnered with external providers to deliver leisure services would be sufficient and, if not, would this affect leisure provision;

·         Were there plans in place for the re-opening of leisure facilities, in particular to attract back previous members and users;

·         Whether Members could see the results of the public consultation which related to the Committee’s remit before the consultation results were considered by the Resources and Governance Scrutiny Committee at its meeting on 1 March 2021;

·         The potential savings of c£155,000 which could be achieved within Leisure Services from 2022/23 through economies of scale work across Greater Manchester;

·         Whether the library and leisure facilities being used as COVID-19 testing centres were receiving any income from the government for this; and

·         Highlighting proposals to extend Hough End Leisure Centre and welcoming that the Council was continuing to invest in leisure facilities.

The Head of Parks, Leisure, Youth and Events advised the Committee that the Council expected to receive a decision from Sport England about its allocation from the funding available within the next week or so.  He reported that, while the £100 million funding which was to be shared across the country was not adequate, the Directorate had not factored this money into its budget for this financial year but did expect to receive approximately £1.3 million.  He advised Members that this covered the period from December 2020 to March 2021 and that the Council would be making the case for the government to provide additional funding to cover the period from April 2021 to the end of the next financial year.  In response to a Member’s question, he reported that all the funding was being provided to local authorities who could then distribute it to their leisure operators as they saw fit.

The Head of Parks, Leisure, Youth and Events confirmed that his service was working with the Council’s main leisure operators, GLL and SLM, regarding a recruitment campaign for when leisure facilities could re-open and had offered them additional resources to support this.  In response to Members’ questions, he advised that plans would include free and discounted activities and he clarified that the increased level of commercial income referred to at point 3.14 in the report would come from new activities, not by increasing the cost of existing services.

The Executive Member for Skills, Culture and Leisure expressed concern that the support from the national government was not sufficient, considering the challenges the leisure sector was experiencing during the pandemic, and advised that the Council was continuing to make the case for further support.  He also highlighted the important role that parks had played during lockdowns, advising that increased usage had placed additional pressures on parks but that the restrictions had affected the ability to generate income from parks.

The Strategic Director (Neighbourhoods) reported that she would ensure that consultation results which were relevant to the remit of this Committee were shared with Committee Members.

In response to a Member’s question about Equality Impact Assessments (EIA), it was agreed that this would be discussed under the following item on the agenda.

The Head of Parks, Leisure, Youth and Events informed Members that there were 12 different leisure operators working across Greater Manchester, as well as the organisation Greater Sport and some bodies for individual sports which were based in the city, and that efficiencies could be achieved by sharing resources, particularly back office resources such as Human Resources advice and financial functions.  He reported that the costs incurred through the use of sport and leisure venues as testing or vaccination centres were being recovered.

Decision

To note that the Committee’s comments will be submitted to the next meeting of the Executive on 17 February 2021.