Agenda item

Councillor S. Healy declared an interest in the following item and remained in the meeting.

Consideration was given to the report of the Corporate Director of Education and the Service Manager – Young People and Partnerships which was presented to update Members on the performance of the Aneurin Leisure Trust and to clarify the future performance monitoring arrangements.

The Service Manager Young People and Partnerships spoke to the report and highlighted the main points contained therein.

The Chair commented on the improved relationship between the Council and the Trust and said this was beneficial to the community.  The Director of Operations of the Trust said there had been a team effort all round, Blaenau Gwent Council had openly engaged with the Trust to get a better relationship. He added that the Trust’s staff had done outstandingly well in supporting the Council’s response through the Covid period.

In response to a Member’s question regarding hubs in Libraries, the Director of Operations said they had worked closely on this project from start to finish and he felt there were no disadvantages as local residents could now use the service on their doorstep, it was also good for libraries as it opened up a whole new audience.

The Chair enquired regarding the possibility of leisure centres so that the service could open more than one day a week.  The Director of Operations said this could potentially present a problem in relation to staffing.  The decision for only opening one day a week was only for the first month, from 21st June until 24th July and this was due to occupancy numbers with social distancing in place, from the 25th July they would move to the new phase and reopen fully.

A Member commented that it was an excellent report and was pleased to note that staff had been redeployed to help with the Covid response and wanted to put on record his thanks that Bedwellty House had been opened as a Covid vaccination centre for the residents of Tredegar as the new hospital was still under construction.  He was also pleased to note that the Trust were now accessing grant funding and hoped this would help to bring the facilities up to standard and be successful going forward.

Another Member commented that he felt the Trust was now in a different place from 2-3 years ago and gave credit for the work undertaken in the turning the Trust around.  He said that staff morale was much better and the relationship with schools had also improved.

The Corporate Director of Education agreed with the Members comments on the progress that had been made and said he had attended the sport centres recently to look at the recent developments that had taken place within the fitness areas and felt the work undertaken there was cutting edge and the developments places the ALT well for the future.  He felt there was professionalism and commitment from staff across the board and expressed his appreciation to the Director of Operations and the Service Manager Young People and Partnerships for building the improved relationship between the Council and the Trust.

The Director of Operations thanked the Corporate Director for his comments and said that the Service Manager was an outstanding link between the Trust and the Council and had been a real help throughout the whole process.  He felt that the new alignment with education was working really well and the Trust was very excited about the future.

The Committee AGREED to recommend that the report be accepted and endorse Option 1; namely that Members scrutinised the annual performance and the report’s proposals for future reporting arrangements be accepted.