The item was considered in the Part I (Public) meeting.

Having considered all of the information Cabinet agreed to -

1.    Approve the Business Case and in particular the creation of a Local Authority Trading Company for the delivery of  leisure services for the following facilities;  Plymouth Life Centre, Plympton Swimming Pool, Tinside Lido, Mount Wise Pools, and Brickfields Sports Centre, with effect 1 April 2022.

2.    Delegate authority to Craig McArdle, Strategic Director for People to:

2.1  Appoint council officers as Directors of the Local Authority Trading Company; and

2.2 Appoint either himself or another senior council officer to act as member representative for the Local Authority Trading Company and to exercise all voting rights on behalf of the Council  as member of the company subject to Key Decisions (as defined by the Council’s Constitution) being reserved to the Leader/ Cabinet) and take any necessary action to protect, safeguard and effectively manage the Council’s interest in the Local Authority Trading Company

A report containing commercially confidential information relating to the financial and business affairs of the current provider of this service was attached. Councillor Nick Kelly (Leader) asked Cabinet whether they wished to ask questions about the part 2 report and move into a private meeting.

Having considered all of the information, Cabinet agreed to remain in Part 1 (Public Meeting) for this item.

Councillor Deacon (Cabinet Member for Customer Services, Culture,Leisure & Sport) presented the Leisure Management Contract to Cabinet –

(a)   The leisure management contract was due to expire at the end of March 2022 and the Council needed to determine how the leisure facilities would be operated from April 2022.

Options that had been considered were:

1.     To do nothing;

2.     To extend the contract with SLM;

3.     To retender the contract;

4.     To transfer facilities to community-based organisation(s) under community asset transfer (CAT) arrangements;

5.     To run and maintain facilities in-house and transfer all staff to the Council;

6.     To transfer facilities and staff to a new Local Authority Trading Company, owned and controlled by the Council.

(b)  The Council have undertaken a full options appraisal to ascertain the ‘best value operating model’ and have engaged sector specialist Fathom Consultancy Solutions to review the work of officers and to provide input into this Business Case.

(c)   The Business Case concludes with a recommendation to establish a Local Authority Trading Company (LATC) for the provision of Leisure Management Services within the city of Plymouth, with effect from 1 April 2022

Members raised questions relating to –

(d)  How these are heavily used community assets and that the Cabinet are committed to maintaining and improving these facilities for their residents;

(e)   Whether it would be viable to outsource again in the future;

(f)    This would give the flexibility to allow us to give a good standard of leisure across the city improve health inequalities;

(g)   The importance of due diligence and a full risk assessment taking place.

Having considered all of the information Cabinet agreed to -

1.     Approve the Business Case and in particular the creation of a Local Authority Trading Company for the delivery of  leisure services for the following facilities;  Plymouth Life Centre, Plympton Swimming Pool, Tinside Lido, Mount Wise Pools, and Brickfields Sports Centre, with effect 1 April 2022.

2.     Delegate authority to Craig McArdle, Strategic Director for People to:

2.1  Appoint council officers as Directors of the Local Authority Trading Company; and

2.2 Appoint either himself or another senior council officer to act as member representative for the Local Authority Trading Company and to exercise all voting rights on behalf of the Council  as member of the company subject to Key Decisions (as defined by the Council’s Constitution) being reserved to the Leader/ Cabinet) and take any necessary action to protect, safeguard and effectively manage the Council’s interest in the Local Authority Trading Company