Agenda item

• Cabinet Member Housing and Safety
• Cabinet Member Sport and Culture

Cabinet Member Sport and Culture had a number of items on which to update the committee. 

In reference to the ArtGallery and Museum (AG&M), a Heritage Lottery Fund bid had been made back in November 2010.  The decision was expected in March 2011 and this was presuming Council agreed to ratify the decision to underwrite the funding.

The Christmas Market held at the AG&M on the 16 December attracted over 400 visitors and many exhibitors, which really raised its profile.

Refurbishment works to the Drawing Room and Conference Suites at the Town Hall had recently commenced. The new box office system, INFX, had been in use since December and it was interesting to note that since this time internet bookings had greatly increased.

He had also been made aware that the Pump Rooms would soon be featuring on the BBC2 programme, Flog It.

The Tourism and Marketing Strategy featured later on the agenda and having assessed the document, he was satisfied that it was an accurate reflection of what Cheltenham had to offer and the challenges faced by the town. 

Leisure@ was performing better than forecast, all areas except casual swimming which was inexplicably, not. 

The two Christmas events organised by the Play Development Team were cancelled due to adverse weather conditions.  These were Lottery funded and the money was to be used by the end of December 2010, however, this had now been extended to March 2011.

In an attempt to maximise the position of the Healthy Lifestyles Officer in light of the changes to the NHS, a real focus had been given to GP referrals.  Given the expected changes it was envisaged that GPs would favour exercise referrals in the future.

The following responses were given by the Cabinet Member Sport and Culture (with input from the Assistant Director Wellbeing and Culture) to questions from members of the committee;

• There was an annual programme of events over the summer period held in parks across the town.  This did not include a climbing wall and whilst in respect of structure, this would be possible, with unknown budget and health & safety implications, no commitment could be made.
• The Leisure@ performance did not include the month of December, when Cheltenham had been badly affected by the snow, but adverse weather in the past had affected the leisure centre.
• The Healthy Lifestyles Officer post was part funded by the PCT.  Conversations were underway about securing the future of this funding and it had been guaranteed for another 12 months.  In the meantime efforts were being made to build it into the base budget.
• Many leisure activities and services were high on the commissioning agenda, but were undergoing ‘Systems Thinking’ first.  More detail would be tabled with the committee in due course.

The Cabinet Member Housing and Safety circulated a copy of the Community Safety Handbook 2010-11.  She explained that 20,000 had been printed at no cost to the Council and could be amended and printed again later in the year if required.  

She had attended the Supporting People Board meeting in November, where the possibility that budget cuts would be larger than expected was discussed, but not in any great detail.  This would be discussed in further detail at the next meeting in February.

Following a motion at Council in December, a potential £50k had been identified in the draft budget to match fund County Council funding for youth work in the town.  The Chief Executive of CBC had written to the County Council following the motion.

The Cheltenham Strategic Partnership had suggested that a reference group be established in order to develop a framework for allocation of the funding.  The budget would not allow for the current offering to be replicated and a mapping exercise of youth provision in Cheltenham was ongoing. 

There had been some positive initial discussions with the County Council, though further discussions were required about who would take responsibility for the allocation of funds.  The Policy and Partnerships Manager and Partnerships Officer (Children & Young People) were the Officers leading on this.

She invited members to highlight specific issues and priorities within their own wards.

Given the focus of the next meeting was Community Safety, members were asked to highlight any specific queries to her or the relevant Officers in advance.

In response to a question from a member of the committee, the Cabinet Member Housing and Safety confirmed that she was also concerned about the timescales relating to the youth provision in Cheltenham, given that redundancies would soon be made by the County Council.  Unfortunately, until detailed discussions had taken place she was not in a position to commit to anything.  Her hope was that the County Council had already undertaken a mapping exercise of existing provision in the town to help with identifying where gaps in provision existed.

The Chairman suggested that a working group be established by the committee, in an advisory capacity rather than for decision making purposes.

The Cabinet Member Housing and Safety was appreciative of this proposal and Councillors Coleman, Teakle, Driver and co-optee Karl Hemming volunteered to assist, as and when required.