Agenda item

Objective : To input into the strategy prior to its adoption

Richard Gibson, Head of communities, wellbeing & partnerships

The Head of Communities, Wellbeing and Partnerships introduced the report as published.

For the council, we have a number of challenges and opportunities in relation to physical activity and sport that the strategy will address including how we get investment into our facilities and how we support more people in our communities to be physically active  .  The strategy will also help communities achieve their aims.  For example, there has been work done with Leckhampton Rovers Football Club to help them develop Burrows Field which has been extremely successful.  The council is currently working with Saracens football club to help them with their plans for a new community and sports hub

The draft vision for physical activity and sport was agreed by  Cabinet in July.  The summary is that we want all communities to be active and healthy.  The report that is with the Overview and Scrutiny Committee is the update report that will be going to cabinet on 2^nd April.

The covering report goes into much more detail and is split into two parts: the built facility assessment and the playing pitch assessment.  The officer noted that many schools are providing  pitches, sports halls and swimming pools that are used by the local community. This provision is really important and the Council will seek to work with schools to protect this provision into the future.   .

The officer also noted that there is currently a deficit on 3G artificial grass pitches, All Saints Academy have the only publicly available one in the Borough, with the population of the borough there should be at least 5 in the area.  Hockey players currently lose out as football is dominating the use of sand-based artificial pitches that they need for their sport. 

The idea behind bringing the report to the committee is for elected members to review the findings of the two assessments and discuss potential next steps for the Council.

The responses to Member questions were as follows:

-       The detailed reports do look at the disabled provision and areas where it could be improved including looking at school provision.  .  It was noted that Belmont School has ambitions to be a sporting hub for disabled young people within their community.

-       Artificial grass pitches do have some negative environmental impacts eg on flooding and wildlife etc but it does increase the capacity for people to enjoy sport.  Research is taking place nationally about how best to mitigate these impacts.

-       With regard to working with independent schools the Council will be working  Cheltenham Education Partnership that brings all the state and independent schools together.

-       Private sector gyms will continue to provide an important contribution to Cheltenhams health and wellbeing offer.

-       From the responses to the physical activity survey, it was noted that some groups said that they don’t feel safe when being physically active.  The Council will engage with the County Council to emphasise the importance of street lighting to make people feel safer.

-       In terms of barriers to being physically active, responses to the physical activity survey showed that cost, lack of time and feeling nervous to start something new were the top 3 barriers to people wanting to exercise.  The results of the survey tell us that people want to be active in their local areas, and the council will look at what it can do to support communities provide more activity within their local areas.

-       The Overview and Scrutiny potentially should get another chance to look at this issue post election and what we are going to prioritise as a Council.