Archived decisions

Hampshire County Council

Executive Member - Recreation and Heritage Item 5

18 January 2007

Funding Support to Southampton and Portsmouth Outdoor Activity Centres

Report of the Director of Recreation and Heritage

Contact: Stuart Nundy ext: 5015 e-mail: [email protected]

1. Summary

1.1 This report presents recommendations to ensure greater parity between the funding provided to the Hampshire Outdoor Centres and funding provided from Recreation and Heritage budgets for the three outdoor centres operated by Portsmouth and Southampton City Councils. To do so will involve a reduction in funding to the City outdoor centres in 2007/08, with further possible reductions in 2008/09 and beyond.

2. Background

2.1 Since local government reorganisation in 1997 funding has been provided in the Recreation and Heritage budget to support County schools in their use of outdoor centres in Portsmouth and Southampton. Before reorganisation all Hampshire schools had benefited from free use of the outdoor centres in the two cities. Initially this policy was continued and use by Hampshire schools was fully subsidised with no direct charge being made. However, following a move by the cities to apply charges for their own schools, direct charging for Hampshire schools was introduced in 2000. Currently, Hampshire schools using the centres pay £3.50 (Portsmouth) or £4.50 (Southampton) per student per session.

2.2 Despite the introduction of these charges, there is still a significant difference in the level of funding support provided for use of the City outdoor centres and that provided for the Recreation and Heritage Department's own directly managed centres, as shown by the table below:

2.3 Charges for all courses have been present for many years in the Recreation and Heritage managed outdoor centres and these have been increased annually at least in line with inflation. This has not been the case with the City Centres because of the difficulties in agreeing a consistent approach with the two City authorities and an understandable resistance from schools.

2.4 The objective is to move to a position where there is a uniform policy on the support of outdoor centres from the Recreation and Heritage budget. Initially it is suggested that the funding support provided should reach no more than 50% of the total cost. The direct cost to Recreation and Heritage of supporting the City outdoor centres in 2006/07 was £150,300. To begin to redress the imbalance it is proposed that this figure be reduced to £120,300 (a change of 20%) in 2007/08. This will involve a reduction of £15,000 in the level of support provided to each of the cities.

2.5 The reduction in the level of subsidy will require a fee increase to schools of approximately £2.00 per student per session although the final figure will depend on the actual unit costs determined by the City outdoor centres themselves. Detailed discussions with City Council officers will ensure that the impact on their centres is managed sensitively and other avenues are positively explored to minimise the ongoing impact.

2.6 This reduction will still leave a major imbalance in funding support and proposals will be brought forward in 2007/08 for further managed reductions in the level of subsidy in 2008/09, particularly in the light of developments in outdoor education provision in the north of the county.

2.7 It is accepted that the proposed fee rise could disadvantage certain individual young people. To offset this impact, it is proposed that the Outdoor Service support fund, currently used for young people attending County Council centres only, be opened to appropriate young people from the County attending the City outdoor centres. This will be managed by the Outdoor Activities Officer and will operate within current budget parameters.

3. Legal Implications

3.1 Section 19 Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1976 gives the Council a discretionary power to provide a wide range of recreational facilities inside or outside Hampshire, and to contribute by way of grant or loan towards the expenses incurred by any other local authority in providing such facilities.

4. Financial Implications

4.1 The base budget for support to the City Outdoor Centres was £150,300 in 2006/07 and is an integral part of the Outdoor Activity Service budget and is not a devolved element allocated as grants to voluntary bodies.

5. Impact Assessment

5.1 Race and equality impact has been considered in the assessment of these applications. No adverse impacts have been identified, especially in the context of direct funding support to individual young people as identified in 2.7

Recommendation

1. That a combined reduction in funding of £30,000 to Southampton and Portsmouth outdoor centres be agreed and implemented from 1 April 2007.

2. That the Outdoor Service direct support fund for individual young people be made available to students attending the City outdoor centres.

3. That a further report be presented to the Executive Member for Recreation and Heritage to determine further funding changes in 2008/09 and beyond.

LINK TO CORPORATE STRATEGY

Yes No

Hampshire safer and more secure for all

Maximising well-being _

Enhancing our quality of place

Section 100 D - Local Government Act 1972 - Background Documents

The following documents disclose facts or matters on which this report, or an important part of it, is based and have been relied upon to a material extent in the preparation of this report.

NB the list excludes:

1. Published works

2. Documents which disclose exempt or confidential information as defined in the act.

TITLE LOCATION

None Sport, Community & Outdoor Services

Mottisfont Court, Winchester