Agenda item

            The Committee was advised that the Sport Northern Ireland Places for Sport programme provided funding for local projects which either built new or upgraded playing surfaces.  In the first year of the funding package, proposed projects had to be in a high “state of readiness” with all relevant approvals in place in order to complete project spend by 31st March, 2010.  The programme provided up to £245,000 for capital works, to which Local Authorities had to make a contribution of approximately 25% towards the costs of the work, as well as all the design costs.

            The Park and Leisure Committee, at its meeting on 11th June, had approved the submission of an application under the fund for the upgrade of the sports hall floor at the Shankill Leisure Centre.  The Council’s application had been successful at Stage 1 of the assessment process and, accordingly, the Council had been invited to submit pre-tender information to be assessed at Stage 2.

            At its meeting on 13th August, the Parks and Leisure Committee had approved the preparation and management of a tender for the refurbishment of the sports hall and had authorised the Director of Parks and Leisure to invite applications for inclusion on a select list and appoint a contractor therefrom to undertake the project.

            A proposal for the replacement of the sports hall at the Shankill Leisure Centre had previously been submitted to the Capital Programme but had remained “uncommitted” due to the continuing uncertainty as to the affordability of capital funding.  The floor was in a poor condition and if it were not replaced in the near future it would become unusable and the main hall would have to be closed.  The timescale which had been set by Sport Northern Ireland meant that the proposal had not been through any prioritisation mechanism.  However, the later stages of the Council’s Gateway process would be applied throughout the development and delivery of the project. 

            Whilst approval by the Committee would be setting aside the agreed process for the approval of capital projects, the potential grant aid presented an opportunity to proceed with the proposal at a significantly reduced cost to the Council of approximately £50,000 against the overall anticipated cost of £163,000.  The Parks and Leisure Department had confirmed that the expenditure would be met from reallocations within the existing revenue budget and consequently no capital expenditure would be required.  However, a requirement of the grant was that the expenditure was required to be authorised by the Council’s Transition Committee, since expenditure would occur in 2010/11.

            The Committee approved the decision of the Parks and Leisure Committee to proceed with the replacement of the sports hall floor at the Shankill Leisure Centre and approved also the invitation of tenders for the works, subject to the award of grant aid from the Sport Northern Ireland Places for Sport fund, and to any contract being awarded on the basis of the most economically advantageous offer in terms of cost and quality in accordance with the Council’s procurement procedures.