Agenda item

This report provides an update on the progress of the Community Stadium project and invites Members to approve a suggested approach to the provision of community and commercial components and a new governance structure for management of the project.

RESOLVED: (i)         That the progress made on the Community Stadium to date be noted.

                        (ii)        That approval be given to set up a Community Stadium Advisory Group with a political balance of 2:2:1 and that partner organisations be invited to attend.

                        (iii)       That Officers be asked to ensure that any governance arrangements for the proposed City of York Sports Village recognise and address the interests of athletes.

                        (iv)       That it be agreed that the possible community benefits contained in the report are a good starting point, but that Officers be requested to refine the list further, while taking the opportunity to separate those activities which might be expected to make a positive financial contribution towards meeting the revenue costs of running a stadium from those which would be aimed principally at filling in gaps in public and voluntary service provision in the City.  In doing so, Officers are requested to apply the principles used to test the acceptability of community style activities associated with other stadia elsewhere in the country.

                        (v)        That all Council Members be requested to provide Officers with a list of any other community facilities, not listed in the report, which they would wish to see evaluated during the next stage of the project, either at the Monks Cross stadium site or at the participatory sports village site.

REASON:      To enable the project to be taken forward by all partners and achieve the objective stated in the Corporate Strategy 2009-2012 to provide high quality sport recreation and other community focused opportunities.

Members considered a report which provided an update on the progress of the Community Stadium project and sought approval for a suggested approach to the provision of community and commercial components and a new governance structure to manage the project.

On 6 July, the Executive had approved Monks Cross south as the preferred site for the project.  Discussions now had begun with the owner and prospective developer of the Vangarde site, adjacent to Huntington Stadium and Monks Cross Park & Ride, regarding a potential scheme to include a new stadium with associated community and commercial uses.  A schedule of potential community benefits was being developed, together with a commercially sustainable business plan to support the scheme.  A matrix assessing potential community and commercial benefits was presented as figure 1, in paragraph 12 of the report.  Further information on this aspect of the scheme was provided in an additional annex, Annex 2, which had been published on-line with the Executive agenda.

Under existing governance arrangements, all business for the project went through the Executive.  In order to enable wider political input and increase the flexibility of the project board, two alternative options were proposed, as set out in paragraph 17 of the report:

• A multi-party Advisory Group with co-opted partner representation or
• A multi-party Advisory Group with council representation only.

Details of the working arrangements of the proposed Advisory Group were attached at Annex 1 to the report.  Members suggested that the Group include the Executive Members for City Strategy and Leisure, Culture & Social Inclusion and their equivalent spokespersons, and that the minutes of its meetings be presented to the Executive for consideration.

Having noted the comments of the Labour Group Spokespersons on this item, and a letter circulated to Executive Members by the Chairman of York City Knights, it was

RESOLVED: (i)         That the progress made on the Community Stadium to date to noted.

                        (ii)        That approval be given to set up a Community Stadium Advisory Group with a political balance of 2:2:1 and that partner organisations be invited to attend.¹

                        (iii)       That Officers be asked to ensure that any governance arrangements for the proposed City of York Sports Village recognise and address the interests of athletes. ²

                        (iv)       That it be agreed that the possible community benefits contained in the report are a good starting point, but that Officers be requested to refine the list further, while taking the opportunity to separate those activities which might be expected to make a positive financial contribution towards meeting the revenue costs of running a stadium from those which would be aimed principally at filling in gaps in public and voluntary service provision in the City.  In doing so, Officers are requested to apply the principles used to test the acceptability of community style activities associated with other stadia elsewhere in the country. ³

                        (v)        That all Council Members be requested to provide Officers with a list of any other community facilities, not listed in the report, which they would wish to see evaluated during the next stage of the project, either at the Monks Cross stadium site or at the participatory sports village site. ⁴

REASON:      To enable the project to be taken forward by all partners and achieve the objective stated in the Corporate Strategy 2009-2012 to provide high quality sport recreation and other community focused opportunities.