Issue - meetings

At the invitation of the Chairman, Councillor Porter addressed the Committee and in summary, queried the rationale behind the decision to offer free car parking for users of the centre as this would encourage car use over public transport.  She also asked why the bidder was instructed to assume car parking would offer a nil income.

The Chairman introduced the report and welcomed to the meeting Simon Molden (The Sports Consultancy) who gave a presentation on the procurement process.  The presentation was available here.

The Head of Programme and Mr Molden responded to the detailed questions raised during public participation as summarised below.  In addition, the Head of Programme emphasised he would also continue to respond to other questions from those contributing at this meeting and any others outside of the meeting.

·         The contract specification included a requirement that priority would be given to local sports clubs where the majority of their membership lived within the Winchester district;

·         Any subsidy requirement would be considered as part of the business case (due to consideration at the next Committee meeting on 11 February 2019). 

·         An increase in hire charges of 15% was assumed based on last year’s charges.

·         The current biggest users/ clubs would be given priority for community use agreements.

·         Any user of the new centre (including group hire) would be entitled to free car parking.

·         Income benchmarking is a standard term recommended by The Sports England and, whilst rarely implemented, offered protection for both parties. It is only activated in certain specified circumstances. RPLC existing staff had all been identified on a list for TUPE transfer eligibility. 

·         Ongoing discussions were continued with regard to Meadowside Leisure Centre, including the possibility of a four court hall option.  Further details would be reported once available.

·         The Head of Programme agreed to check with the Legal Team regarding the query about the possible transfer of legal rights to an operator in relation to a lease.

·         Car parking management is to be retained by the Council. This will be considered very carefully bearing in mind residents concerns, the impact on users of the Leisure Centre and the sports pitches/ stadium and the relationship with near by park and ride car parking. The impact on existing users of a change in location had been considered carefully and results would be included as part of the consideration of the full business case.

·         Some consultation had been undertaken with existing RPLC users and more would take place.  It was envisaged that, once appointed, the new operator would wish to undertake its own consultation.

With regard to the number of bidders, the Council had stipulated some challenging thresholds which might have impacted on the number of interested companies and discourage small companies.  However, the ultimate test was whether the procurement process had resulted in a bidder that the Council was happy with.  Mr Molden advised that he would not expect to see any more than three bidders for such a contract.  He believed the two bidders were  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4