This is the presentation that CBC ignored last night:
The proposed plans for a new sports centre are borne out of the DUA and do not come from you the Labour Party Councillors. Instead, the architects of this idea are Chesterfield College & CBC officers.
The plan to Build on green field, reducing facilities and reducing access to those facilities go against your own political belief of social justice and equality. Yet you are the ones allowing this to happen.
How can you sit comfortable knowing that you are burning the bridges for Athletics in the Annexe. That there will be no diving boards and a reduced number of Squash Courts. Yet at the same time CC get four classrooms built instead for their needs. Please ask yourself, how is this serving the needs of the people you represent?
And in the knowledge it goes against the spirit in which it was left, by overriding covenants. So much so, an insurance premium will be taken out to protect against third parties seeking financial gain. This is plain wrong and anyone supporting this is disrespecting the purpose of the Victorian legacy.
It's completely inappropriate for a handful of staff and select council members to say it's ok to build on the Annexe.
When the reason for doing so is because the athletics track is knackered so therefore it's ok to build on. Wrong! The Annexe needs to be preserved to keep intact the full potential that will provide a legacy long beyond anyone in this chamber today. The long term aim of this town should be to make the Annex along with the Sports centre a complex of sports envied across the County. The land should be earmarked the way in which the A61 Corridor has been for years now to develop the Waterside project. After all if Council wish to make Chesterfield not just a town but a destination of choice they need to back their own beliefs by having facilities that reinforce this!
All along this process the needs and expectations of Chesterfield residents have played second fiddle to the needs and deadlines from Chesterfield College. The lack of engagement, transparency and public consultation prior to voting this through, is proof if needed they are working to the agenda of Chesterfield College.
Sadly, the reason the whole process has been railroaded is to meet the dilemma CC face in housing their students needs after the sale of their Clowne Campus. In March last year, CC gave the Council a deadline to agree their intent to enter into a partnership. Sadly there is no evidence to suggest Council explored all other avenues prior to agreeing the partnership. On developing this intent and as a result of the pre-determined agenda of the feasibility study it soon became apparent refurbished works of the existing QPSC wouldn't meet the needs of the DUA. The Council & College were advised the current six court hall will cause an undisputed public outcry with regards to accessing facilities. This is the reason the council backtracked from their plan of refurbishing QPSC only twelve months ago!
And hence the need for an Eight court hall in the new centre. Yet another example of the needs of CC being put before Chesterfield residents. This extra expense of building an 8 Court hall and four classrooms is to meet the needs of CC, no one else! No doubt these demands are to the detriment of facilities like diving and squash.
Why any Council would wish to introduce a DUA to their own Sports Centre is beyond sound logic. The excessive and consistent use of facilities over twenty five years during the academic year goes against the basis of providing leisure on an equal and fair basis. Instead it has the potential to create exclusion. Access to our community sports centre will be at an all time low at a time demand will be at an all time high. The logistics of meeting demand over the next twenty five year period of the DUA is an unknown quantity. Furthermore, no allowances have been made for our towns increasing and ageing population, no doubt the generations of retired folk wishing to access QPSC over the next twenty five years will be most affected.
Recently, news of the deregulation bill has put doubt on a unison of school term dates, this possibility of differing school holidays would place increasing demands on the DUA, that would take planning beyond the control of the Council for the next twenty five years. Yet again, this is a further example of an unknown quantity that cannot go ignored.
As a consequence of the DUA the dynamic and culture of the Sports Centre and surrounding areas will turn our recreational footprint into that of a College Campus. This Councils own admission that this will potentially lead to a downturn in public membership has been overlooked. So much so, Sport England do not oversee nor create templates for this kind of agreement. In fact when we asked Sport England to identify these agreements, they could only source the one. Furthermore, to dispel a myth and to remove all doubt, the state funded students of Chesterfield college are not entirely the children of Chesterfield council tax payers. Approximately two thirds of all CC students come from areas outside the borough of Chesterfield.
This is not progress, it is a conflict of interests between the way in which income tax and council tax should be spent. This is not putting the people of this town first but you are spending their money. The only winner from all of this is Chesterfield College, not the people you actually serve!
With regards to the existing QPSC site, quite remarkably no set plans have been made for the existing site. Still,£750k of reserves are set aside to include the demolition of the building. Though more money will be required to regenerate the site if it stays within the ownership of CBC. In conclusion of a 2011 planning report it was deemed the main opportunities would be for housing or non residential use. The public believe this to be inappropriate and we believe as Councillors you will too. Any reduction to the recreational footprint is unacceptable. The current administration have failed to rule out this possibility by stating, "any future use of the site would have to be considered having regard to the existing covenants on the site, that it is on the edge of a grade 2 listed park" . Now anyone would be naive to assume if the council aim to override covenants on the Annexe what's stopping them from doing the same here? We gave the Council an opportunity to rule out the sale of the land, yet they didn't.
In summary, these beliefs, opinions and facts are backed by the signatures of nearly 4500 Chesterfield residents who strongly oppose the intentions of this Council. Our campaign has proven the refurbishment of the existing centre will deliver minimum efficiencies of around 500k per year, enabling Council an ability to invest on a much smaller basis on a proven business model. Furthermore, with a decent web site and the arrival of a new marketing position a first for the centre, further efficiencies will be achieved.
Finally, I plead with all Councillors to put a stop to current events and to recognise the value and importance of our existing Sporting and leisure footprint. To retain what we already and to aim for a long term Olympic legacy all sports can prosper from and Chesterfield can be proud of!
I don't think the council listened to Mr Maris at all. I think they had already made their minds up and just went through the motions.
Topic: SOLC's Presentation (Read 1199 times)