Subject to the required notice being given, Members of the Council can ask questions of the Chairman of the Council, the Leader of the Council, Portfolio Holders or Chairmen of Committees.

The time allocated for receiving and disposing of questions shall be a maximum of 30 minutes. Any question not disposed of at the end of this time shall be the subject of a written response, copied to all Members the following working day unless withdrawn by the questioner.

Subject to the required notice being given, Members of the Council could ask questions of the Chairman of the Council, the Leader of the Council, Portfolio Holders or Chairmen of Committees.

One question on notice had been submitted by a Member for this meeting as set out hereunder.

Councillor Mick Barry asked Councillor Alex Porter, the Portfolio Holder for Leisure and Tourism:

 “As part of his submission to the Resources and Services Overview and Scrutiny Committee at their budget scrutiny meeting on 11^th January 2023 the Portfolio Holder for Leisure and Tourism said in a written answer to a question from Cllr Barry: ‘You will be aware that the Council has already taken the difficult decision to no longer invest in joint use facilities, owned by an external organisation. A decision on how to allocate respective budgets for these facilities has yet to be taken.’

Members will be aware that funding for the joint use sports centre facilities at Brightlingsea and Harwich was withdrawn following a Cabinet decision in December 2021. The rationale for this decision was to make a straightforward cost saving, in respect of both revenue spending and capital investment.

Since the withdrawal of TDC funding 13 months ago the Sigma Trust have invested well over £1million into the sports facilities at Brightlingsea, and after a period of closure the centre started to provide limited public access again from September 2022.

Can Councillor Porter confirm whether there are any plans to allocate the £60,000 estimated savings from Brightlingsea Sports Centre to provide funding for future sports development in the town as part of the new District Sports Strategy?

Finally can he also confirm when the strategy will be delivered for consultation to reassure residents that the needs of Brightlingsea will be fully considered and addressed within this strategy?’”

The Leisure and Tourism Portfolio Holder replied as follows:-

“Thank you Councillor Barry for your question and for your update to Full Council on the community use of the Sigma Trust sports facilities in Brightlingsea. 

It is excellent news that the Sigma Trust have invested so heavily in their own facilities and continue to provide public access, which is what they said they would do when the joint agreements came to an end.

When the Sports Strategy comes forward in the summer, it will consider the needs of the whole District, including Brightlingsea.   

As part of our support of the Sigma Trust facilities in Brightlingsea and Harwich, from last July we allocated £25,000 to support the setup of sports groups.

I am also pleased to let you know that a further new grant scheme to support increasing levels of physical activity in the District is due to be brought forward shortly.  This is being funded through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund and will be eligible to local clubs and organisations around the District.  Once further information is available, we will be updating Members and the local community.” 

Councillor Barry then asked a question of clarification to which Councillor Porter responded.