Through this report, the Leader of the Council, is exercising delegated powers, paragraph 4b on Part 3.28 of the Council’s Constitution, on behalf of the Cabinet, to make a key decision that is not in the Council’s “forward plan” in order to implement in as timely a fashion as possible the purchase and installation of new Air Handling and Building Management Systems at Walton on the Naze Lifestyles. This decision is urgent, as Government funding allocated by Sport England is required to be drawn down by the 31 March 2025. Any further delay in entering into an agreement with the proposed contractor could lead towards withdrawal of funding allocated to the Council through the Swimming Pool Support Fund.
In addition, the Chairman of the Resources and Services Overview and Scrutiny Committee has agreed that the Special Urgency procedure contained in Rule 15 of the Access to Information Procedure rules in Part 5 of the Council’s Constitution can be used in this instance.

To ensure that the Air Handling Unit and Building Management System at Walton on the Naze Lifestyles are installed and the Council is able to utilise £94,500 of Swimming Pool Support Funding to contribute towards the project. If the Air Handling Unit is not placed at this time, the Council would need to consider options for replacement if and when the unit is deemed beyond reasonable repair.
Detailed information is provided in the attached report.

The key alternative option from this decision would be to agree not to allocate additional funding towards the project. This has been fully considered, but as replacement of the Air Handling Unit is listed as an urgent item on a recently undertaken Condition Survey, this is not considered prudent. If the unit was to be deemed beyond economic repair, the Council would need to replace the system at the full cost and would not have access to the external funding allocated.