Agenda item

(Mr. R. Cregan, Director of Finance and Resources, attended in connection with this item).

            The Committee considered the following report:

“1.0      Purpose of Report or Summary of main Issues

1.1       To advise committee of additional challenges faced by the Partner Agreement holder following development of the site, to seek permission to revise the current Partner Agreement at Ulidia Playing Fields for the duration of the Agreement and to advise committee that Rosario YC intends to seek an alternative management model in the form of a long term lease.

2.0       Recommendations

2.1       Committee is asked to consider the requested additional support by Rosario YC and the two options as outlined below and:

·        to agree to option 2 based on the budgetary impact outlined at 3.8

·        to note Rosario YC’s desire to submit a detailed proposal to Council describing their proposed Management model based on a long term lease. A proposal will be brought to a future committee.

            Option 1

2.2       Revise the terms within the existing Partner Agreement at Ulidia Playing Fields to include an additional financial payment of up to £2,000 per month for staff costs subject to vouching of fully evidenced expenditure or

            Option 2

2.3       Revise the terms within the existing Partner Agreement at Ulidia Playing Fields to review keyholding requirements and provide additional facility management through Mobile Facilities Attendants

3.0      Main report

3.1       Ulidia Playing Fields is subject to a Partner Agreement with Rosario YC. The Agreement is for a term of five years to the last day of August 2020 with an option to extend for a further two years. The Partner Agreement requires the Club to deliver sports development outcomes based on the Club’s annual plan and to assume responsibility for day to day operation of the site including key holding, cleaning, security, health and safety duties etc. Council supports the Club in the form of four quarterly payments of £5,000 based on satisfactory delivery of the sports development plan and compliance with operational requirements.

3.2       Over the last number of months the site has been closed and Rosario YC’s development programmes have been displaced to other venues. This closure was to facilitate Council’s redevelopment of the site with the installation of a floodlit synthetic pitch which, subject to completion of planned works, will be available for use in January 2019.

3.3       A meeting was held at the beginning of December 2018, attended by political representatives, club representatives and officers. Rosario YC made a presentation highlighting the scale and scope of the Club’s activities, how their activities support the Belfast Agenda and other relevant strategies, their vision for further development of the site in the future and their ambition to assume full responsibility for running the site.

3.4       The Club highlighted their concerns that the development of the site to include the synthetic floodlit pitch will now require them to operate well beyond their original commitment due to the intensified hourly use, extended opening hours and the move from seasonal to yearlong programming. They further identified additional risks to site users in particular control of parking due to higher volumes of traffic with concurrent bookings at evenings, weekends and outside daylight hours.

3.5       The Club has requested that Council provide an additional monthly amount of £2,000 to support them in creating part-time posts to operate the site to Council’s standards for the term of the Partner Agreement. These duties are currently carried out by Club volunteers as such costs are not eligible as part of the Sports Plan budget.

3.6       An alternative solution would be for Council to review the Club’s keyholding requirement and provide additional requirements through our Mobile Facilities Attendants. The table below indicates the current typical usage levels and the anticipated usage levels from the redeveloped facility.

3.7       The Club’s presentation described their vision for the site to include a new changing pavilion and meeting rooms. They requested that Council permits a long term lease which would allow them to access significant external funding to deliver their vision. They further stated that they have secured commitment for a loan in the amount of £250,000 from the Ulster Community Investment Trust and that through their own prudent financial management have accumulated reserves of £100,000 which they will contribute to this development.

3.8       Based on this, the Club has advised Council of their intention to develop a detailed long term business plan for Ulidia Playing Fields with a view to them, subject to the necessary approvals, taking a long term lease of the site from January 2020. A further report will be brought to committee with a detailed proposal.

3.9       Financial Implications

            Option 1 - An amount of £24,000 per annum will be required to support this request, there is no allowance for this within existing estimates.

            Option 2 - The cost of providing Mobile Facility Attendant cover is within existing Parks budgets.

3.11      The financial impact of offering a lease of the site will be determined following assessment of the Club’s proposal and detailed business plan

3.12      Equality or Good Relations Implications/Rural Needs Assessment

            There are no additional impacts related to this report.”

            The Director of Neighbourhood Services provided the Committee with an update report in respect of the  Council’s current Partner Agreement with Rosario Youth Football Club for Ulidia Playing Fields.  She referred to the request from Rosario Youth Football Club to revise the current arrangements that had arisen as a direct result of the recently completed redevelopment works, which had included the installation of a floodlit synthetic pitch.  She detailed that, during recent discussion, the Club had advised that the redeveloped site would now require greater operational responsibility that was beyond those agreed in the original partner agreement.

            The Director referred the Members to the two proposed options as outlined in the report.  She highlighted that no budget existed within the estimates for Option 1 and that an amount of £24,000 per annum would be required to support this option.  She further advised the Members that it was Rosario’s intention to develop and submit to the Council a detailed long term business plan for Ulidia Playing fields with a view to the Club, subject to the necessary approval, taking on a long term lease of the site from January 2020, therefore, any decision taken currently would be an interim measure. 

            The Director of Finance and Resources reiterated that this expenditure had not been included within the proposed estimates for 2019/20 therefore option 2 was the only viable option.  

            With the permission of the Chairperson, Councillors Boyle and Craig addressed the Committee and outlined their support for Option 1.

            Detailed discussion ensued, during which a number of the Members voiced their support for Option 1.  Whilst the Members recognised that no allowance had been made in the current estimates for the increased expenditure, it was suggested that, given that this would be an interim measure, the required expenditure could be met from in-year departmental budgets.   

The Committee agreed:

·        to revise the terms within the existing Partner Agreement at Ulidia Playing Fields to include an additional financial payment of up to £2,000 per month for staff costs for the period 2019/20 to be met from in-year departmental budgets;

·        that the funding would be subject to vouching of fully evidenced expenditure;

·        that all future funding (post 2019/20) would be  considered within the context of the rate setting process; and

·        noted that Rosario Youth Football Club had agreed to submit a detailed proposal describing its proposed Management model based on a long term lease and that this would be submitted to a future meeting of the Committee.