Agenda item

5.1  The chair welcomed Councillor Veronica Ward, Cabinet Member for culture, leisure, sport and volunteering. He thanked her for the tabled  written answers and suggested these be appended to the minutes.

5.2  He then invited the cabinet lead to give an overview of her portfolio and Councillor Ward  began by noting the high satisfaction rate recorded among residents with libraries and leisure centers. She reported that Dulwich and Camberwell Leisure Centers have both been refurbished and major investment is scheduled for Peckham Pulse. Canada Water Library has been a huge success with 20 percent of all users, and up to a million users by the New Year. 

5.3  The cabinet member spoke about the very successful events - such as the reading challenge and a successful film event with a youth panel. The council supports well over 100 events and these range from carnival events to firework displays and local festivals such as the Elephant and the Nun.

5.4  She emphasized the importance of the Sport and Physical Activity Strategy, which is tackling inactivity, particularly targeting people with disabilities and obesity.

5.5  She highlighted that Southwark came 9^th in the Youth Games and there is a very good Southwark Youth Panel.

5.6  The cabinet member spoke about the importance of Southwark as a cultural centre, and noted that the arts were a larger employer in the borough than the construction industry and there is a new arts plan to support this work.

5.7  The cabinet member gave a final mention to volunteers, and noted the importance of this strand of work and the council’s contribution to the volunteer champion project.

5.8  A member asked if the long term vision for Newington will include a library and the cabinet member said that it would. She was then asked about the Camberwell Library plans and commented that this will be light and spacious, with a good children’s library. A member commented that while there is a good local history library it is rather cramped and the Strategic Director, Deborah Collins, agreed but noted this is the space available, commentating that if the council were ever offered a better space then we would take it.

5.9  The head-teacher representative commented that Fusin have told schools that they will be charged to use leisure facilities after 4pm. She added she was unsure if this was throughout the borough, but it was certainly  the case in the north, and this was contrary to the agreement with Sport England and Fusion, which gave an undertaking that schools could use the facilities for free up to 5pm. The cabinet member expressed surprise and assured the head-teacher representative that she would look into this.

5.10  A committee member asked the cabinet lead if she would put in a request for a budget increase for Black History Month celebrations. She responded  that there is a budget process and indicated that the funding for Black History Month has remained the same for several years and that the council is going through a difficult funding process. She asked the member why more funding was needed and he responded that this is a popular event with demand from the community and she agreed that there was standing room only at many of the library events.

5.11  A member remarked on the success of the BMX track and asked who was using it. The cabinet member said that it was used by lots of groups , and the venue hosted regional events. She added that a break-down of figures is not easy to provide as the ‘rock up and ride’ events are quite informal. She added it was the home of the Peckham BMX club, so the council knows it is used by local people.

5.12  The cabinet member was asked if the council gather data on residents who use the leisure centres and she responded that there will be a detailed report on this to cabinet shortly. She explained that a range of demographic information is kept, but not faith. There is also outreach and Fusion has promoted and target groups such as people with disabilities, women and girls. Fusion is part of the partnership that looks at increasing participation to promote wellbeing and ensure inclusion.

5.13  A member asked if there have been any increases or decreases in leisure access charges and the cabinet lead explained that these have stayed about the same ; charges are set by Fusion by the council oversee this. A member raised concerns about the level of fees and the impact on use and asked the cabinet lead what is being done to reach out to groups and ensure that the services are accessible. The cabinet member said that the data does not indicate that facilities are being used less. She commented that concessionary rates are very good, and down time fees are also lower. The member urged the cabinet lead to look at the impact of fees on disadvantaged groups, adding that residents had raised concerns with him, and the cabinet member agreed to look into this further.

5.14  The chair commented that the  written answer provided indicated Seven Islands Leisure Centre would be used as a police base for Rotherhithe and Surrey Docks.  He asked if the police might use a porto –cabin and the cabinet member said that that at this stage the council do not know what is needed, but she had heard informally that it is not a huge amount of space.

5.1  The chair asked how effective the promotion of water-sports at Seven Islands Leisure Centre has been and commented that there has been a change in the Sailability staff. The cabinet member commented that there was a big promotion and offered to provide figures.

RESOLVED

The cabinet member indicated she would look into the reported difficulties schools in the north are having accessing Fusion leisure centers after 4pm without a charge.

Figures will be provided on use of water-sports and Sailability.