Agenda item

The Cabinet is asked to note any announcements made by the Leader of the Council.

RESOLVED that Cabinet –

(a)    receives and notes the Monitoring Officer’s report and in response, endorses the reduction in Leisure Centre Membership Fees during 2020 and 2021 to support the transitional period during COVID-19 restrictions being lifted and the refurbishment of Clacton Leisure Centre;

(b)    approves the 25% reduction in Leisure Centre Membership fees for the remainder of 2021/22, subject to the agreement of the proposed in-year adjustments to the budget, as set out in Appendix H to the Financial Performance Report – Second Quarter 2021/22;

(c)    notes a review of Leisure Centre Membership Fees for 2022/23 will be undertaken and requests that the decision is made by the Portfolio Holder for Leisure & Tourism; and

(d)    acknowledges that internal control arrangements have been increased and an Economy and Leisure Governance Plan has been implemented and that the Monitoring Officer will receive regular updates on the decision making.

The Leader of the Council (Councillor Stock OBE) announced that he would, at this point of the meeting, take an urgent item, namely a statutory report of the Monitoring Officer.

Cabinet was reminded that, under Section 5A of the Local Government and Housing Act 1989, the Monitoring Officer was under a statutory duty to report to Cabinet in relation to an executive function, if they considered that any omission had given rise to unlawfulness.  The requirements of Section 5A were reflected within Article 12 of the Council’s Constitution.

It was reported that a 50% reduction of the approved charge for the Leisure Centres Membership Fee had been implemented in 2020 during the transition back to a full service.  A briefing note had been presented to the Council’s Management Team at the time, which had included a proposal for a free month in August 2020, but highlighting that those suggestions would still be the subject of formal decisions.  Fees had then been increased to 75% of the approved charge at the beginning of 2021.  Unfortunately, no formal decisions had been made, recorded or published in relation to the reductions implemented. 

Cabinet was informed that it was not able to retrospectively agree the backdated fees, but that it might wish to endorse the free month; the reduction to support the transitional period during restrictions being lifted (50% in 2020) and through the on-going refurbishment (25% in 2021).  In addition, Cabinet was requested to approve the 25% reduction in fees going forward for the remainder of 2021/22 and request options available to future leisure centre fees, which would be reviewed in January 2022.  The funding of those fees and its impact on the Council’s Revenue Budget in 2021/22 was covered within the Financial Performance Report as reported under Minute 78 below.

Members were aware that, in respect of the financial implications in 2020/21, adjustments to the budget were included within the financial performance reports during the year, including the outturn position for 2020/21 that had reflected the phased reopening of the facilities. It was important to highlight that the adjustments made to the budget reflected the overall impact of the pandemic, which included the reduction in fees, along with the support from the Government’s Sales, Fees and Charges Compensation Scheme.

The Interim Corporate Director (Lee Heley) outlined to Cabinet that internal control arrangements had been increased and an Economy and Leisure Governance Plan had been implemented and that the Monitoring Officer would receive regular updates on the decision making.

Having considered the information and advice contained within the Monitoring Officer’s statutory report:-

It was moved by Councillor Stock, seconded by Councillor Porter and:-

RESOLVED that Cabinet –

(a)    receives and notes the Monitoring Officer’s report and in response, endorses the reduction in Leisure Centre Membership Fees during 2020 and 2021 to support the transitional period during COVID-19 restrictions being lifted and the refurbishment of Clacton Leisure Centre;

(b)    approves the 25% reduction in Leisure Centre Membership fees for the remainder of 2021/22, subject to the agreement of the proposed in-year adjustments to the budget, as set out in Appendix H to the Financial Performance Report – Second Quarter 2021/22;

(c)    notes a review of Leisure Centre Membership Fees for 2022/23 will be undertaken and requests that the decision is made by the Portfolio Holder for Leisure & Tourism; and

(d)    acknowledges that internal control arrangements have been increased and an Economy and Leisure Governance Plan has been implemented and that the Monitoring Officer will receive regular updates on the decision making.