WARDS: , , Brockmoor & , North & , Kingswinford South, & Cradley,

AGENDA ITEM NO. 9

DUDLEY METROPOLITAN BOROUGH COUNCIL

SELECT COMMITTEE - CULTURE AND RECREATION

THURSDAY 6 JANUARY 2005

REPORT OF THE DIRECTOR OF URBAN ENVIRONMENT

SPORT AND RECREATION FACILITIES IN THE BRIERLEY HILL AREA

1.0 PURPOSE

1.1 To apprise Members of the range of sport and recreation facilities that exist within the geographic boundaries of the Brierley Hill Area Committee area.

2.0 BACKGROUND

2.1 This report is a statement of actual provision and has been written to provide both a geographical context for the work of the Select Committee and comparison with other Areas of the Borough.

2.2 Audit of provision

2.2.1 As part of the review of ‘From Play to Performance’, the sport and recreation strategy published in 1995 and the development of the current Sport and Recreation Strategy for an audit of facility provision was undertaken in 2001. This reflected public sector, private sector and voluntary sector sport and recreation facilities that existed within the geographic boundaries of each of the then current Area Committee areas.

2.2.2 Further, more specific, work was undertaken as part of the Strategic review of Leisure Centres and the development of the Playing Pitch Strategy in 2003. This information has been factored into this report.

2.2.3 The audit has been revisited and where necessary amendments have been made to remove clubs and facilities located outside the Borough, the development of new facilities and any loss of facilities. The detail contained in the tables in Appendix 1 is accurate at December 2004.

2.3 Facilities

2.3.1 Traditionally sports facilities have been categorised into three distinct areas based on the type of provider – public, private and voluntary. This categorisation has been used in this analysis. Appendix 1 lists the facilities in each category.

2.3.2 Publicly provided sport and recreation facilities in Brierley Hill, either at the Leisure Centre or on education campuses, include 4 swimming pools, 4 four court sports halls, a 10 court sports hall, an 8 lane athletics track and a floodlit synthetic turf pitch (also included in the playing pitch analysis).

2.3.3 Private sector facilities include a tennis centre with 8 indoor and eight outdoor courts, plus 2 twenty five metre swimming pools (one indoor and one outdoor), plus a fitness facility. There are a further 10 health and fitness facilities in the Area Committee area, two with more modest swimming pools. In total there are 317 health and fitness stations. In total the PMP study identified over-provision of 57 health and fitness stations in the Brierley Hill Area. This is projected to become a situation of greater overprovision by 2005 when it is anticipated that there will be 127 stations above the optimum level, based on population, of 260 stations. This is a critical factor to be taken into consideration as part of this overall project as the potential income generation derived from health and fitness facilities is often factored in as a means of offsetting on-going revenue costs associated with local authority swimming pools. However, it is important to recognise the nature of the market and the risk associated with entering a market with significant over supply of facilities.

2.3.4 There are a number of sport and recreation facilities within the Brierley Hill Area Committee that would fall into the category of sports clubs or grounds and would generally fall within the definition of voluntary sector provision. These include 10 bowling greens, 1 cricket ground, and 1 floodlit football ground. The cricket ground and the football ground are included in the total number of playing pitches. There is also a tennis club with 4 tennis courts which are floodlit.

2.3.5 A number of these voluntary sector facilities are managed by clubs but are Council assets that are leased to these organisations.

2.3.6 Of the total of 65 playing pitches identified in the Brierley Hill Area Committee area 27.7% do not provide community use, representing a total of 17 pitches. The synthetic turf pitch at the Dell Stadium, represents 17% of the total provision in the Borough. It must be recognised that provision differs between Wards and it is of note that the Brierley Hill Ward has no full size football pitch. Clearly Members need to take a view as to the level of facility provision that they consider to be appropriate at Ward, Area and Borough – wide levels.

2.3.7 Comparatively the Brierley Hill Area Committee area currently has more public sector swimming pools than any other area of the Borough. The area also has more sports halls than any other area of the Borough, with the five facilities providing a total of 26 courts. There is also the specialist athletics facility at the Dell Stadium. The only other athletics facility is in at Manor Abbey Stadium and is owned and operated by Halesowen Athletic and Cycling Club, a voluntary sports club. Appendix 2 provides a comparison between the five areas.

2.3.8 Further facilities being developed and due to be available to the public in 2006 including a four court sports hall at Pensnett School of Technology in Tiled House Lane, and improvements to the playing pitch at Hawbush Primary School. As part of the funding agreement with the Big Lottery Fund for each facility community access has to be guaranteed. However, there is no provision for on-going revenue support as the programme was fundamentally a series of capital developments. To ensure community access is secured and sustained consideration must be given to opportunities that may exist to provide the revenue subsidy as income is unlikely to cover costs.

2.3.9 It would be unrealistic to expect all five Areas of the Borough to each have a comparable range of facilities. Furthermore it has to be recognised that travelling to use sports facilities is quite common practice. However, this does tend to rely on the availability of private transport and manifests itself as a factor in the social class differences in participation .

70

60

50

40

% 30

20

10

0 S J Skid Semi Prof Mngrs Mngrs Man Skld Unskld

Social class differences in participation - 1996

2.4 Variations in Access

2.4.1 Despite growing affluence, the disparity between the richest and poorest sections in society is growing, and is a symptom of broader issues of inequity. Participation rates in sport display inequity across a range of indicators, including those relating to gender, ethnicity and disability:

• Women’s participation rates are 14% below those for men, General Household Survey 1996. (GHS)

• Black and ethnic minority participation rates are 6% below the national average (National Survey of Sport and Ethnicity 1999)

• 39% of people with a disability participate in sport compared to 59% of non-disabled adults (National Survey of Disability and Sport 2000)

• People in the ‘professional’ social class group are three times more likely to participate in sport than those in the ‘unskilled manual’ group (GHS 1996)

2.4.2 It would be wrong to state that these statistics are specific to the Brierley Hill Area but provide an indication of the trends in participation that are likely to be reflected throughout the Borough, and which the Council needs to reflect on in the context of both service planning and policy development of the Sport and Recreation Service

3.0 PROPOSALS

3.1 That the Select Committee consider the content of this report and comment accordingly.

4.0 FINANCE

4.1 There are no direct financial implications from this report.

5.0 LAW

5.1 Section 111 of the Local Government Act, 1972, enables the Council to do anything which is calculated to facilitate or is conducive or incidental to the discharge of its statutory functions.

5.2 Section 19 of the Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act, 1976, empowers the Council to provide recreational facilities in its area.

5.3 There is a duty under Section 17 of the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 to account for the implications of the impact on community safety of actions and decisions relating to service areas.

6.0 EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES

6.1 This report contains proposals which accord with the equal opportunities policies of the Council.

7.0 RECOMMENDATIONS

7.1 That the proposals set out in Section 3 of this report be approved.

Director of the Urban Environment: …………………………………………

Contact Officer: Andy Webb, Head of Sport and Recreation Ext: 5579

Background Papers Used in the Compilation of this Report:

• Playing Pitch Strategy; Strategic Leisure (October 2003) • Leisure Centres Project - Final Draft Report; PMP (May 2004) • Sport and Recreation Strategy; Dudley MBC (October 2002