To consider the final report of the Promoting Sporting Participation Task and Finish Group.
(Report under separate cover)
Minutes:
Councillor Luke Stephens presented the final report of the Promoting Sporting Participation Task and Finish Group, a Group of which he had been the Chair.
The Committee was informed that the forthcoming London Olympics had been the original stimulus for this review but the focus had subsequently shifted as the time constraints were recognised and in the light of Members’ growing understanding of the breadth of sporting facilities within the Borough. The recommendations were then outlined and the reasoning behind them explained.
With respect to the proposal for an independent website, it was suggested that a more casual customer experience without Council branding would prove more successful at attracting potential users of the sporting opportunities available. The installation of facilities to allow for informal games within parks and green spaces was designed to allow people to make use of them in a way and at times that suited them. With regard to the fourth recommendation, it was noted that the Council was already making efforts to promote sports and mention was made of a very successful event in recent weeks. The proposed link with NEW College through opportunities for its students was seen as providing benefits to both organisations.
Members were generally very positive about the report and the recommendations that had come forward as a result of the work that had been carried out.
There was some concern that the consultation with local residents had been inadequate, with most of the discussions which informed the recommendations being undertaken with local organisations. Councillor Stephens acknowledged that this had been a shortcoming and referred to the perennial difficulty in garnering responses to consultation from residents.
It was also suggested that, although the proposed web developments might help to attract more interest from younger people, there was also the need to deal with the demand for sporting and leisure opportunities from older people who were generally less likely to use social media or the Web. Furthermore, it was suggested that the challenge in maintaining a further independent website using existing resources was not to be underestimated.
Officers reported that the Leisure and Cultural Services Website was being restructured at present to make it leaner and more user friendly and that Twitter and Facebook were also being investigated as means of promoting the sporting opportunities available. It was also reported that the Local Strategic Partnership was looking at the national Change 4 Life initiative at present. Officers were able to confirm that money had been identified primarily through earmarked reserves that would allow for the installation of the equipment detailed in recommendation 3.
The Committee agreed that there was more work to be carried out in terms of further consultation with local residents and around the location and funding of sports / games equipment but it was
RESOLVED that
1) a new independent website be created to promote sport and leisure in Redditch, be maintained and updated on a constant basis, and possess its own domain name to give it its own distinct identity;
2) Officers undertake a review into the possibility of creating new branding for Redditch Sports and Leisure to help compliment the new independent website; and that the Council create a competition for local students to design the new branding;
3) the Council look to maximise the benefits of parks and green spaces in Redditch by introducing more informal games areas and additional equipment to help increase sporting participation and physical activity in the local area;
4) the Council gives it full support to the introduction of new events to promote sport and physical recreation, individual sports clubs and increased sporting participation in Redditch; and
5) the Council work closely with NEW College to enable its students the opportunity to support these new sporting events on a voluntary basis.