Agenda, decisions and minutes

At this point, Members are asked to declare any personal or prejudicial interest they may have in the business on this agenda.

Members were asked to declare any personal or prejudicial interests they may have had in the business on the agenda.

Councillor Hogg declared a personal non-prejudicial interest in Agenda Item 4 (Service Plan Performance Monitoring Period 1) and  Agenda Item 5 (Capital Programme Monitoring 2007/08 – Report 1) as he was a member of the York  Museums Trust.

To approve and sign the minutes of the meetings held on 27^th March 2007 & 5^th June 2007.

RESOLVED:             That the minutes of the Executive Member for Leisure and Culture Advisory Panels held on 27^th March 2007 and 5^th June 2007 be approved and signed as a correct record.

At this point in the meeting, members of the public who registered their wish to speak regarding an item on the agenda or an issue within the Board’s remit can do so.  The deadline for registering is Monday 3^rd September 2007 at 5pm.

It was reported that there were no registrations to speak under the Council’s Public Participation Scheme.

This report analyses performance by reference to the service plan, the budget, and the performance indicators for all of the services funded through the Leisure and Culture budget.

Advice of the Advisory Panel

That the Executive Member be advised to:

• Note the performance of services within the directorate funded through the Leisure & Culture budget.
• Agree that a report be brought to this committee before any reduction in spending on book stock takes place.

Decision of the Executive Member

RESOLVED:             That the advice of the Advisory Panel be accepted and endorsed.

REASON:                  To monitor and review performance in this portfolio area.

Members considered a report that analysed performance by reference to the service plan, the budget and the performance indicators for all of the services funded through the Leisure & Culture Budget.

Officers reported that there had been overspends for Libraries, Parks and Open Spaces and Sports and Active Leisure. In the case of Libraries and Parks and Open Spaces the service managers had proposed action that should bring the service budgets back into line by the end of the financial year. The scale of the problem within Sports and Active Leisure, and the nature of the service, means that the service itself would be unlikely to contain the projected overspend.

The service manager for the library service was reviewing fees charged for DVD and CD rental as well as fees charged for overdue items to try and help with some of the overspend. If this was not successful then cuts to spending on books may have to be made.

Officers stated that it was not unusual for some level of overspend to be present at this time within the financial year.

Members raised concerns about cutting the spending on book purchases and requested that a report be brought back to the committee before this happened (if necessary). It was noted that the library offered many more services than book loans and these were very popular.

Officers said that nationally, book borrowing was in decline but in York there was a slight increase in borrowing of non-fiction and under fives’ fiction. Borrowing of adult fiction was in decline and Members raised queries regarding what kind of fiction the library should be providing (i.e. the percentage of hardback or paperback books available). Members asked questions about the mix of people using the library and the Head of Libraries and Heritage agreed to e-mail the socio-economic spread of people using the libraries to Members for information.

Members discussed the overspend within Sports and Active Leisure and understood that there had been difficulties retaining customers at the Edmund Wilson fitness suite. This stemmed from the fact that it was a split site which entailed walking across the car park between the gymnasium and the swimming pool. It was noted that the fitness facility was still returning a profit but this was considerably less than originally projected. Members felt that better staff monitoring of the resources was needed e.g. use of the air conditioning when only a few customers were in the gym.

Members also discussed the donations for trees scheme. The service manager for Parks and Open Spaces confirmed that this was working well and said that he would e-mail Members with more detail.

Advice of the Advisory Panel

That the Executive Member be advised to:

• Note the performance of services within the directorate funded through the Leisure & Culture budget.
• Agree that a report be brought to this committee before any reduction in spending on book stock takes place.

Decision of the Executive Member

RESOLVED:             That the advice of the Advisory Panel be accepted and  ...  view the full minutes text for item 14.

This report is to inform Members of the likely out-turn position of the 2007/08 Capital Programme based on the spend profile and information to the end of July 2007, to advise of changes to existing schemes to allow the more effective management and monitoring of the Capital Programme and to inform Members of any new schemes and seek approval for their addition to the Capital Programme.

Advice of the Advisory Panel

That the Executive Member be advised to:

• Note the updates to schemes as detailed above
• Agree the scheme reprofiling and slippage reported above and summarised in Annex 1
• Approve the revised capital programme as set out in Annex 1

Decision of the Executive Member

RESOLVED:             That the advice of the Advisory Panel be accepted and endorsed.

REASON:                  To enable the effective management and monitoring of the capital programme.

Members considered a report that informed them of the likely out-turn position of the 2007/08 Capital Programme based on the spend profile and information to the end of July 2007. It advised Members of changes to existing schemes to allow more effective management and monitoring of the Capital Programme and sought their approval for new schemes to be added to the Capital Programme.

Officers updated that additional costs had come to light regarding the Yearsley Pool project after the report had been written.  More asbestos had been found than was previously understood to be there and there was also some broken drainage that would need replacing. It was also noted that it would not be possible to reuse the existing lighting in the roof. The implications of this for the overall pools programme would be reported to the Executive as part of a pools strategy report in October.

Members asked if the work was still on track to finish within the timescales agreed and Officers said that it was although the five days contingency had already been used. Members also discussed possible celebrations for the pool’s birthday next year and Officers said that they had celebrations planned for this as well as for its reopening after refurbishment.

Members felt that the report did not reach out to ethnic minorities and Officers clarified that there were many cultural diversity projects happening within the City.

Advice of the Advisory Panel

That the Executive Member be advised to:

• Note the updates to schemes as detailed above
• Agree the scheme reprofiling and slippage reported above and summarised in Annex 1
• Approve the revised capital programme as set out in Annex 1

Decision of the Executive Member

RESOLVED:             That the advice of the Advisory Panel be accepted and endorsed.

REASON:                  To enable the effective management and monitoring of the capital programme.