Minutes:
Phil Rogers reported a great deal of activity in Culture and Leisure Services over the past nine months.
Clifton ParkMuseum - The reopening of CliftonPark Museum had taken place on 29th January, 2005 – 80,000 visitors had been recorded since then. This compared to approximately 35,000 in previous years. Comments entered in the Visitors’ Book would suggest that the majority of people seemed excited and enthusiastic about the facility, the signs being good for a successful future.
One criticism was that the Museum closed on a Friday. This will be reviewed next year.
Culture and Leisure Service Plan and Tourism Plan- This had now been completed and both had been aligned with the completion and publication of the Community Strategy. Cultural services strongly aligned with the Rotherham Alive theme in both documents.
New Sports Facilities – Submissions from two bidders were due before Christmas in competing to design, construct and manage the new sports facilities. An assessment process will then take place and a decision taken regarding the successful bidder.
Herringthorpe Stadium – The refurbished athletics track is now complete and in operation. Work to the value of £80,000 has been carried out and will continue to develop work, funding being mainly from Sport England.
New synthetic sports pitch – DinningtonComprehensive School – This is now complete. The pitch is fully-floodlit and the changing facilities are near completion. It is anticipated that the facility will be very well used and the school is very excited about this facility. The school has made great use of the facility all Summer and is available for community users out of school hours.
New Sports Hall – PopePius High School, Wath – Build of a new sports hall had commenced which would enable the school to teach physical education indoors. This would be available for community use out of school hours.
Clifton Park and Boston Park – Work on the development and conservation and management plans for Clifton Park and Boston Park has been completed by Landscape Design Associates, as the basis of major funding bids to the Heritage Lottery Fund. Several members of the Cultural Consortium had been involved in this process. Costs are estimated at approximately 10 million pounds to develop the two parks, a substantial proportion of which will be sought from external funding. In terms of excellent facilities and the impact on Rotherham, it is believed this will take the town into the next 30/40 years.
An update report would be submitted to a future meeting of this Consortium.
The meeting discussed a number of particular attractions which it was suggested could be enhanced. These included:-
- view from the top of BostonCastle - use as Restaurant/Cafe
- renovation of BostonCastle – Interpretation Centre and Viewing Platform
- involvement of private developers
Establishment of a new Performance Monitoring System – This would ensure targets are set and circulation of information improved in terms of how RMBC’s services are operating, which would include an ability to measure success by statistical evidence. Work had taken one year to put together and had involved representation from the Audit Commission and University of Sheffield.
Herringthorpe Pavilion – A partnership with Rotherham Rugby Club had been entered into to develop the pavilion. In addition, grant aid was being sought from Sport England to improve sporting facilities at Herringthorpe Playing Fields.
BradgatePark – Completion of £1.5m of major improvement work at BradgatePark. Tribute was paid to the Friends of the Park in helping to raise funds. It was felt that the park which had now been transformed, was a credit to everyone involved. and a model for the parks in the future.
Completion of New Children’s Play Areas – Greasborough, Valley Park, Cherry TreePark (Maltby) and East Dene
Consultancy work on green spaces and playing pitch strategies – This had now been completed. A Members’ Seminar had been arranged and wider implications of this work would be reported.
Summer Holiday Activity Programme – For the first time, there has been a co-ordinated approach with all Agencies, statutory and voluntary agencies this Summer. The Sports Development Team has led, but all other Agencies have played a part. It had been a good Summer with lots of individuals and groups being involved.
Thrybergh Sports Centre – This has recently been reopened after part of a re-fit, funded through the Schools PFI initiative.
Heritage Sites – RMBC are working hard to find ways of progressing heritage sites – for example Keppels Column and Walker Mausoleum, in order to restore them for public use and access.
Town Centre Cultural Facility – A meeting had been arranged to progress this work with the intention of replacing the existing cultural facility and replacing it with a modern building to be used for future years.
Rotherham Show – Due to inclement weather, attendance on the first day of the show had been down to approximately 10,000 people. However, the second day had been much better with around 35,000 people in attendance which had been similar to last year. Several letters had been received, far more of which had been complimentary stating that despite the weather, the Council had worked very well in making the event a success. Staff would continue to work hard to consider ways of improving the Show.
Questions were raised on the following issues:-
Masborough Mausoleum – The Legal Section of RMBC was presently involved in this work, the main issue being that of ownership.
Swimming Pools – New swimming pools was the biggest project, together with indoor sports facilities for the Borough and Clifton and BostonParks. It was believed these would cost in the region of £45 million. The sports facilities/indoor sports work was further advanced than the parks.
Herringthorpe Playing Fields – A leasing agreement had recently been reached by RMBC to allow Rotherham Titans Rugby Club to invest in the changing facilities at Herringthorpe to bring them up to standard as being fit for use. RMBC would still be able to use the facilities. A further agreement was to create an area of three pitches which would be lit for the Titans to develop sport in that area but also for RMBC sports development workers to use them. The second part of the bid was to redevelop the rest of the playing area and encourage more sporting activity in that area of town.
The Chair explained that all the work which was progressing at Clifton, including the development work and Women’s Rugby, would continue. There would still be seven pitches which would be realigned, in addition to the three pitches leased to Rotherham Titans which would be well maintained, lit and of a much higher standard with upgraded changing facilities.
The whole area would be developed as a sports hall through sports development work and more activities.
There was a great deal of interest in Junior Rugby for boys and girls, including Rugby League. It is believed that more use in the evening would develop more interest.
One member felt there should be more sports development work carried out in villages. All weather systems meant a greater usage of facilities.
It was pointed out that officers within Culture and Leisure Services did try to spread resources fairly across the Borough and could not suit every community all at once. With particular regard to swimming pools, it is hoped to see increased work with the sports development team over the next few years, with increased activities and programmes across the Borough.
Reference was made to two key strategic documents – Playing Pitch and Green Spaces Strategy, both of which are well under way. A much more detailed consultation will follow in order to seek views on medium/long-term plans to develop sport. Work could then be done with key partners to identify sites and with local sports halls to identify necessary resources in an attempt to acquire a balanced range of resources across the borough to meet the needs of the majority of people. A further impact on development work was with regard to parishes and communities in terms of what grants the Council could apply for and the criteria for where they should be used.
Community coaching was presently taking place to give coaching skills and qualifications for people to work with communities.
Particular problems with respect to the large amount of land in Rotherham is the fact that it has urban and rural areas and hinterland inbetween, together with the impact on the closure of coal mines which used to provide a lot of sporting activities.