Agenda item

The Head of Sports will make a presentation on sports facilities and sports participation in the city.  The Commission is invited to receive the presentation and consider whether a Task Group should be established to review barriers to sports participation.  The findings of this review can then be used to inform the development of a revised Sports Strategy for the Council.

The Head of Sports made a presentation on sports facilities and sports participation in the city.  A copy of this is attached at the end of these minutes for information.

During the presentation, attention was drawn to the following points:

·           Participation in sport had peaked during the London 2012 Olympic Games, but by early 2016 Leicester had lower levels than before that and lower levels than the national average.  For example, the city had a 3% higher level of inactivity than the national average and the number of people doing three thirty-minute sessions of activity per week was 3% lower than the national average;

·           As part of the Sports Services Review, consideration had been given to participation levels and who was using the Council’s sports services;

·           The current five-year Health and Wellbeing Strategy was nearing its end, so work was being done on how this would be developed for the next five years.  This included consulting partners, such as national sport governing bodies and schools;

·           Consultants had been engaged to develop a physical activity and sports strategy and undertake an options appraisal;

·           Managers would be up-skilled to enable them to improve the way that sports services were sold; and

·           Each leisure centre now had its own service plan for the first time and Sports services staff were located together at Braunstone Leisure Centre.

Members welcomed the presentation, but expressed concern at the current inequality of services across the city.  Councillor Clair, Assistant City Mayor with responsibility for Culture, Leisure and Sport, concurred with this, but explained that the work being done would help the Council understand the current position more clearly.  As a result, the Council would be in a better position to make decisions on future delivery of the service as a whole, rather than adopt a piecemeal approach.  As explained in the presentation, this would take a few months to achieve.

It was anticipated that opportunities for investment would be part of the options to be assessed by Members, but what form this could take was not yet known and could vary between centres, depending on need.  This also needed to be considered in the light of the financial challenges faced by the Council over the next few years.

Some Members expressed the view that the sports infrastructure in the city was better than could be found in many towns and cities, but it needed to be recognised that gyms had become more popular, while there appeared to have been a decline in more “traditional” sports, such as badminton or squash.  In addition, some sports had failed to meet the needs of Black and Minority Ethnic people, so participation from those people was low.  Councillor Clair confirmed that these were the types of issues that would be examined in the forthcoming work, as well as issues such the impact of low employment and gender.

The Head of Sports explained that the proposed work also would provide linkages between mental and physical health.  This would enable the Council to ensure that staff had the right skills to help increase the self-esteem of individuals and families, as well as their participation in sport.

Members also suggested that the findings of the review of Sports Engagement in Leicester completed in 2013 be considered during the forthcoming work.

AGREED:

1)    That the presentation be received and noted;

2)    That the Head of Sports be asked to provide data for the Commission on sports participation in Leicester;

3)    That the Head of Sports be asked to consider the findings of the 2013 review of Sports Engagement in Leicester during the review of Sports services; and

4)    That a Task Group does not need to be established to consider this further, but that the review of Sports services be included in the Commission’s work programme, with the Commission receiving information on progress with the review on an on-going basis, this to include information on the objectives of the review.