The Cabinet Member for Localism, Sport, Culture and Heritage and the Leisure and Technical Services Manager have been invited to attend for this item.

The Chairman welcomed the Cabinet Member for Localism, Sport, Culture and Heritage and Leisure & Technical Services Manager to the meeting.  He thanked officers for the draft report and extensive Draft Playing Pitch Strategy and Assessment.

The Cabinet Member for Localism, Sport, Culture and Heritage introduced the report which presented the draft Playing Pitch Strategy for comments and consideration.  He thanked the Leisure & Technical Services Manager for his work on the document.  He outlined the importance of ensuring that we had the right number of pitches particularly in light of Swale Borough Council’s corporate objectives.  The Cabinet Member explained that the report set out aspirations for those providing pitches and enabled the Council and other providers to source funding.  He noted that Sport England (SE) involvement was important to ensure validation for funding.

The Chairman drew attention to pages 109 to 217 of the Final Assessment Report and asked Members to contact the Leisure & Technical Services Manager direct if they noticed any typographical errors or had any questions, as those pages contained factual information.

The Chairman advised that he would take the Playing Pitch Strategy 2015 – 2025 report section by section and he invited Members to contribute.

Page 38 - Executive Summary

In response to queries, the Leisure & Technical Services Manager explained the need to liaise with schools as they had great facilities.  He explained that SE had template agreements with schools for community use and there were issues around safeguarding and it was important that schools were committed and involved with the strategy, but it was a challenge for as schools ultimately have the power to withdraw from agreements if they choose to do so (subject to any specific funding or planning agreements not being in place).  Netball was not listed as the strategy only focussed on sports that required a playing pitch, as per the Sport England guidelines for playing pitches.

However, reference to netball for example could be picked up through the Sport & Physical Activity Framework. 

The Cabinet Member for Localism, Sport, Culture and Heritage reported that officers at Swale were in constant dialogue with local schools via the Active Swale Network.

A Member queried whether there was a strategy which included sports such as golf and badminton.  The Commissioning and Open Spaces Manager stated that there was not, but those type of sports would be included in the Sports and Physical Activity Framework. 

Page 39

A Member asked that the shortfall of cricket pitches in the Sittingbourne area should not be addressed by focusing on provision in Faversham, instead the focus should be on providing pitches within the Sittingbourne area.  The Leisure & Technical Services Manager agreed to look at this issue with officers from the Council’s Planning Policy Team and agreed that facilities closer to the problem area would be beneficial.

Page 53

A Member stated that the analysis areas on the Swale map was not legible.  He asked that at larger colour copy be provided.  The Leisure & Technical Services Manager agreed to provide this as an Annex.

·         Leisure & Technical Services Manager

A Member spoke about the importance of ensuring that the strategy was clear about the number of pitches in areas to assist officers when Section 106 Agreements were agreed as part of planning applications. 

The Leisure & Technical Services Manager spoke about the importance of Section 106 monies and that the Strategy would enable officers to ensure provision was were the greatest need was in terms of planned housing developments and provide the statistical information required when developer contributions are being negotiated.  The draft Strategy provides the statistical information to support any such discussions, while the document is being consulted upon and ultimately adopted (subject to any amendments).

Page 63

Objective (a)

In response to a query from a Member, the Leisure & Technical Services Manager agreed to amend the title wording for management objective (a) to make it clear how often they would review and refresh area-by-area plans.

Page 66

Management objective (f)

In response to a query from a Member about poor quality sites and the potential for costs, the Leisure & Technical Services Manager stated that the consultants had considered that the Council pitches were adequate and there were funding streams that the Council could source to improve the quality of pitches.

Page 71

Objective 3

A Member asked that the wording for objective (k) be enhanced to improve the relationship in terms of planning conditions imposed for pitches at school sites.

Page 74

A Member pointed out that SBC had a Community Asset Transfer Policy.  The Leisure & Technical Services Manager agreed to update the strategy to reflect this.

A Member stated that the Council needed to be careful when considering transferring recreation areas to sport clubs and carefully consider the impacts this could have on the wider community.

The Cabinet Member for Localism, Sport, Culture and Heritage stated that local communities would be consulted on any asset transfers and it was about achieving a balance against public need.

Page 40 – Action Plan

A Member drew attention to objective 2 and considered it was not just about improving accessibility, but also improving transport links to facilities especially in rural areas. 

Some Members considered that the Strategy was very male orientated and spoke about the problems around poor changing facilities.  Other Members felt that it was a gender neutral strategy.

The Leisure & Technical Services Manager stated that the Strategy was for all residents of Swale.  He was aware that some changing facilities at certain sites were not up to standard and there was more work that could be done to encourage women into sports but this was more for consideration as part of the Sports and Activity Framework.

A Member requested that figures on the number of women participating in sport in Swale be included.  The Leisure & Technical Services Manager undertook to provide information from the Sport England Active People data on participation levels in sport across the Borough

Page 100

In response to queries, the Leisure & Technical Services Manager stated that the monitoring steering group could be a sub-group of the Swale Sports Network and the only cost involved would be the meeting set-up i.e. venue.  The group could report back to the Cabinet Member for Environmental and Rural Affairs.  The Chairman suggested that the Council Chamber, Swale House be considered as the venue and that the sub-group provided updates for the Policy Development and Review Committee.

Members drew attention to some typographical errors and names that needed  removing/replacing within the document, which the Leisure & Technical Services  Manager undertook to update.

The Chairman thanked the Cabinet Member for Localism, Sport, Culture and Heritage and Leisure & Technical Services for attending the meeting.

Resolved:

That the above comments from the Committee be submitted to Cabinet to consider, specifically:

(1)  That the wording for Management objective (a) be amended to make it clear how often the area plans would be reviewed and refreshed.

(2)  That the asset transfer policy be enhanced if possible.

(3)  That the wording for objective 3 (k) be enhanced to improve compliance of  planning conditions attached to educational facilities.

(4)  That a breakdown of usage of sports facilities by women be provided.

(5)  That officers ensure that the strategy was robust and compatible to the Swale Local Plan in terms of future developments and Section 106 Agreements.