Agenda item

Objective: to review the draft physical activity and sports strategy action plan before it goes to Cabinet for approval on 20 May.

To provide an opportunity for the committee to reflect on the proposed actions and how they support wider ambitions of the Council.

Richard Gibson, Head of Communities, Wellbeing and Partnerships

The Head of Communities, Wellbeing and Partnerships introduced the report as published.  He explained that the action plan was being taken to Cabinet for approval on the 20^th May.

He then gave some background to the report stating that there are a number of reasons for the Council to have an up-to-date sports and physical activity strategy including the need to secure investment into the Council’s leisure facilities, supporting the ambitions of local sporting clubs, and addressing health inequalities. In addition, the strategy was identified as a corporate priority in the corporate plan 2023-2027.

The report sets out the journey of work that has been done since 2023. There have been two studies carried out – one with regard to leisure facilities and the other with regard to playing pitches. These provide a robust evidence base for the future. There was also a survey of young people the results of which were taken to Cabinet in February.

The action plan was drafted with support from the previous Cabinet Member and will be taken to Cabinet on 20^th May.

The engagement of stakeholders and how they are engaged with is important. For instance, schools are important stakeholders as they have assets like swimming pools and sports fields. The Council will work to unlock investment into sport and physical activity with creative means.

The matter then went to Member questions, the responses were as follows:

-       There are many more opportunities with football and much more investment.  However, this does mean that certain sports get side-lined e.g. hockey is one as their pitches get taken over by football.  The Football Foundation invest, and they are keen that the pitches they invest in are used for multisport. This might create opportunities for other sports such as netball – which members felt was incredibly important for women and girls.

-       In the context of local parks, the council needs to balance their use by sporting teams with making sure that they remain open to use by all. 

-       There is now less risk of schools selling off sports fields as Sport England can now raise a statutory objection. The case of Pittville School was slightly different as they were the only school that didn’t have a sports hall they sold some of their unused playing fields to build the sports hall.

-       The Council will use its business-as-usual budget to deliver the action plan and then look at seek funding from elsewhere to deliver wider ambitions.  It was suggested that leveraging existing facilities in the private sector might help.

-       The Feel-Good Pass has been launched and involves four community providers. With the No Child Left Behind activity pass there is an opportunity to bring on commercial providers

-       The national bodies for sports are addressing toxic masculinity ensuring that investment is made and that they address the balance.

-       As regard to the implementation schedule this is something that has to be discussed with the Cabinet Member as they will need to reflect on what takes priority.

-       An advertising campaign would be a good thing, however that may have a cost implication, the Cabinet Member stated that he would take that idea away, there may be the opportunity to implement a small level comms campaign.

-       Cycling was not mentioned in the report as it is a complex matter due to infrastructure requirements. There is an Active Age open day in June which we will make Members aware of.

-       Significant investment is needed in the track at the Prince of Wales stadium.  English Athletics and UK Athletics do not currently have funding.  It would be advantageous to have a meeting with Cheltenham Harriers and Smiths Rugby Club as the main users of the site to try and find a way forward. It was acknowledged that this is a countywide resource and not just an issue for Cheltenham to solve.