Agenda item

To support the Committee in scrutinising the Council’s newly adopted Sport and Activity Strategy, by providing nationally recognised data relating to activity levels in the Tendring District over the last five years.

The Chairman of the Committee welcome all the invitees to the meeting. These invitees were Cllr Mick Barry (Portfolio Holder for Leisure and Public Realm), Lee Heley (Corporate Director for Place and Economy), Kieran Charles (Sport & Leisure Operations Manager), Sylvia Gentleman (Delivery Oversight in Essex for the Active Wellbeing Society), Hayley Chapman (North Essex Relationship Manager for Active Essex), Jason Ferguson (Board Member for Sport England, Senior Leader in public health at Essex County Council and Director for Active Essex) and Sharon Alexander (Chief Executive Officer for CVS Tendring).

The Sport and Activity Strategy for Tendring that had been approved by Cabinet on 20 October 2024 was introduced to the Committee by the Portfolio Holder for Leisure and Public Realm, Councillor Mick Barry. He advised the Committee that an extensive consultation had been undertaken as part of the development of the strategy and that advice, guidance and best practice identified from National Bodies had been integrated into it. The Committee were informed that the strategy was a working document that included timelines and actions. The Committee were made aware of the different elements of the strategy, such as, the consideration of a Community Sport and Activity Manager post, the funding applications for up to five Playzones to be put in the District. The intention was for the Strategy to be consistently reviewed in collaboration with other relevant bodies. He also drew attention to the Supplementary report that was circulated to the Committee Members with the views and comments from Sport England on the strategy.

The Corporate Director for Place and Economy, Lee Heley, agreed with the statements given by Cllr Barry and advised the Committee of the importance of the Strategy. He particularly referenced how the strategy sought to shift the way sport and activity was viewed by the organisation and the wider community.

The Sport and Leisure Operations Manager, Kieran Charles, was invited to give his thoughts on the Strategy. He advised that through gathering the local and national data on activity it recognised where there had been positive improvement, and that the strategy would be able to further boost these improvements through the community engagement projects in sport and activities in the district set out.

Sylvia Gentleman, from the Active Wellbeing Society, was introduced to the meeting, and she advised the Committee that the society had been working with Active Essex for a number of years working on the Sport England Local Delivery Pilot, particularly Essex Pedal Power. Sylvia presented to the Committee several PowerPoint Slides that explained their work within the District. She provided the Committee with the Active Wellbeing Society’s thoughts on the Strategy and advised that their experience of working within the District was that to get engagement from residents it was necessary to approach people in ways they could relate to and not simply provide opportunities and expect the public to be in a position to take up those opportunities. It was felt that this element of learning they experienced had been captured within the Strategy. 

The Chairman then introduced Hayley Chapman from Active Essex, she advised the Committee of their Partnership work with Tendring District Council, CVS Tendring, and North East Essex Health and Wellbeing Alliance for a number of years as a part of the work undertaken by the Sport England Local Delivery Pilot. She advised that Active Essex was supportive of the Strategy, especially in terms of incorporating the learning from the Local Delivery Pilot, and the action plan that has been included within the Strategy that showed a clear path to achieving the ambition of the Strategy.

Jason Ferguson, Director of Active Essex provided his feedback on the Strategy. He advised that he also sat on the Board for Sport England. He raised that the recommendation report from Sport England had positively commented on the Strategy. Jason also highlighted that the Strategy directly aligned with the Council’s Corporate Plan themes.

Sharon Alexander from CVS Tendring (CVST) was invited to speak by the Chairman and she commented on the long-term strong partnership CVST had with Tendring District Council and the partnership work with Active Essex as well facilitating the Sport England Local Delivery Pilot.

The Committee asked questions around the options for sustainability and were informed that a piece of work was being commissioned to review the financial and wider sustainability of the three leisure centres and that it had been included within the Cabinet report (Minute 52 of Cabinet’s meeting on 20 September 2024 refers) and was one of the first actions to take place.  They were also advised that the outcome of this review was envisaged to be completed in March 2025 and that the outcome would then pull out what the options were.

The Committee also enquired what the prospect was of the Community Sport and Activity Manager role being established. The Portfolio Holder for Leisure and Public Realm advised that community engagement was a key part of the strategy and part of this role would be to work with partners and established groups to support and enhance what they were already doing. Bidding to fund this role was underway.

The Committee considered the five Play Zones that were being identified and wanted to understand the reasons for the placement of the zones within the District and why some areas had not been included. The Committee were informed that the placement of the five Play Zones was heavily influenced by the current land ownership position and what was already readily available (in view of time constraints to deliver these first five Play Zones. It was confirmed by officers that when open discussions commenced in relation to the funding in 2025/26 there would be an opportunity to look into opening further Play Zones around different parts of the District. As such, time was a key consideration for the location of the first five and it was hoped that more time would mean further Play Zones could be located to achieve widespread access to them.

There were discussions around what successes were envisaged to come out of this Strategy and the Committee were advised that it would look to increase availability and access to activities/sport within the District and also to provide a platform for further opportunities/development.

There was also questions around how communication barriers could be broken down to inform a wider audience of the Sport and Activity engagement that would take place around the District and whether forums could take place with the relevant persons to support breaking down these barriers. The Committee were advised that ‘word of mouth’ would play a significant role in informing members of the public about the Strategy and its actions.

The Committee were further advised that within the Strategy there was a detailed section around the marketing aspects and the marketing plan.

The Chairman then thanked all the attendees for their contributions which he had found most helpful towards the Committee’s enquiry into the recently adopted Sport and Activity Strategy. This view was echoed by the Committee’s members.

The Committee RESOLVED TO RECOMMEND to Cabinet that the following actions that were included within the Sport England submission be pursued:

-          To support an expanding population in the west of Tendring (Garden Community Project) the scope should be broadened from identifying new sports facilities to identifying new opportunities for creating active environments.

-          To ensure that appropriate contributions towards sport are consistently secured. Furthermore, the scope of contributions should be extended to cover capital projects that would support the delivery of physical activity priorities.

-          Encourage the application of Active Design principles into new developments to help ensure that opportunities for encouraging physical activity are maximised in practice.

-          New/refurbished buildings that the Council funds have fully considered environmental sustainability.

It was further RESOLVED TO RECOMMEND to Cabinet that the following actions should be undertaken:

-          Showcase Activities fairs being held at centres across the District in 2025 to allow clubs and organisations to offer to the public opportunities to be involved in sport/be active.

-          An Activities Council/Committee to be created and meet to help encourage further dialogue between sports activities providers.

-          Creation of Sports/activities promotion videos that the public can access to encourage involvement in those activities/access information on activities locally.

-          Develop proposals for more playzones including on sites in the west of the district to then be implemented as and when funding becomes available.