West Lancashire Borough Council Draft Leisure Built Facilities Assessment

WEST LANCASHIRE BOROUGH COUNCIL DRAFT LEISURE BUILT FACILITIES ASSESSMENT

Appendix 2

WEST LANCASHIRE BOROUGH COUNCIL DRAFT LEISURE BUILT FACILITIES ASSESSMENT

January 2015 WEST LANCASHIRE BOROUGH COUNCIL DRAFT LEISURE BUILT FACILITIES ASSESSMENT

CONTENTS

Page

Introduction ...... 1

Report structure ...... 2

Context ...... 3

Indoor sports facilities assessment ...... 9

Sports Halls ...... 14

Swimming pools ...... 24

Health and fitness ...... 33

Consultation...... 40

Cultural and other provision ...... 42

January 2015 WEST LANCASHIRE BOROUGH COUNCIL DRAFT LEISURE BUILT FACILITIES ASSESSMENT

INTRODUCTION

The following provides an assessment of built sports, cultural, arts facilities and the Ranger service within West Lancashire. The process has been supported by Knight Kavanagh & Page – Management Consultants (KKP) and reviews strategic options in light of current and future demand, alongside financial considerations.

The overall review, which covers a wide range of sporting, cultural and play provision, has been subdivided into three assessment reports which underpin the Council’s new strategy for Leisure and cultural facilities. The three assessment reports cover: a. Indoor - sports, arts, community and the gallery; b. Play - outdoor play provision in parks and public areas; and c. Outdoor - this divides into ‘pitches & courses’ for sports that are primarily played during summer and winter seasons with evaluations being conducted ‘in season’.

This assessment focuses on the ‘Indoor’ elements, it provides detail as to the built facilities that already exist in the Borough and is accompanied by an assessment of their condition and overall quality. It considers demand for facilities based on population spread, planned and projected growth and takes note of health and economic deprivation.

Comprehensive research findings combine consultation, facility assessments and data analysis. Geographic information systems (GIS) have been used to examine patterns of existing use and isochrones (distance/time catchment zones) in order to illustrate/examine equity (or otherwise) of access to facilities. The review sits within the context of service change and must be viewed against a backdrop of the need for sustained financial savings; The need to balance access to facilities alongside financial savings can be seen as potentially conflicting aims.

The appraisal includes private and public indoor facilities, community (asset transferred) facilities, educational provision and the Arts and Ranger services. The main focus is, however, on sports provision. It offers a robust assessment of the need for built sport and cultural facilities while identifying deficiencies and surpluses.

The Council’s key objective, generally and specific to the study, is to provide opportunities for leisure and culture that, with other WLBC services, contribute to healthier communities.

The recommendations and accompanying strategy include proposals for facility rationalisation, refurbishment, replacement and new build options. It presents a clear vision of what future provision should look like; mapping out a process from the current situation to where West Lancashire provision should be and how it will get there. It is consistent with the Council’s changing role in respect of public health and the requirement to deliver opportunities for healthier lifestyles which, in turn, lead on to positive health outcomes. Inevitably it is not possible to start with the proverbial ‘blank piece of paper’, as if no facilities already exist. However, in a strategic sense it is the role of the review to reflect on the current situation and Council ambition with a sustainable offer.

The study provides a sound basis for decision making and strategy development; it is founded on a logical process of consultation and data analysis, the evidence from which leads on to a series of defensible strategic recommendations.

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REPORT STRUCTURE

Context - draws on the national sports policy context and the demographic characteristics of West Lancashire’s population to provide a backdrop to the assessment. This includes data on deprivation and ill health, the sporting and non-sporting characteristics of the Borough’s population, projected and forecast population totals, age specific trends, the range of existing facilities within West Lancashire and the direct economic impact of sport related business within the Borough.

Facilities assessments - this examines supply and demand issues; it includes site visits to and assessment of facilities, mapping and analysis of the current distribution of participants and an assessment of the temporal and spatial accessibility of the current offer; it covers:

Sports facilities Arts provision Community facilities Sports halls Chapel Gallery Resource centres Swimming pools and meeting rooms Health & fitness gyms (see below)

In 2013/14 six facilities were transferred to the local community, thereby achieving savings for the authority and retaining resources locally; the facilities transferred are:

Civic Hall (Engine Rooms); Ashurst Meeting Room (Taekwondo Development Council); Community Resource Centre at Birch Green (Ashton Artz for All); Community Resource Centre at Tanhouse (Tanhouse Enterprises); Community Resource Centre at Greenhill (Greenhill Community Hub); and Digmoor Resource Centre (Evermoor Enterprises).

These facilities have been included in the assessment as has the Ranger Service.

Consultation – explores the findings of three on-line surveys, covering the views of primary schools, sports clubs and parish councils:

Primary schools were asked about the standard and availability of their own facilities, current community access to them and/or willingness to allow public access. Clubs focused on their use of facilities within and outside West Lancashire and the standard of the facilities being used. Parish councils were asked about the availability of their facilities for indoor sport.

Strategy development – threaded throughout the above materials and catchment mapping is an assessment of the key criteria shaping proposals for future cultural and sporting facilities in West Lancashire. This incorporates key objectives of equity, quality and the necessary financial backdrop to sustainable services. It examines the principle of facilities being within a 10 minute drive time catchment, details the ability of existing provision to meet this standard and any shortfalls. The assessment also highlights the fact that provision and accessibility are about more than just geographic location and time of day, they also include factors such as scale of provision, standard and age of equipment, condition of changing rooms and other associated facilities etc.

Recommendations – are drawn together and presented within the Leisure Strategy document.

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CONTEXT

The first half of this section outlines national, regional and local policies pertaining to the study and which have an important influence on the accompanying strategy. It is followed by a review of relevant demographic data about the population to which these policies relate.

Policy context - National

Sport England: A Sporting Habit for Life (2012-2017) In 2017, five years after the Olympic Games, Sport England (SE) aspires to transform sport in England so that it is a habit for life for more people and a regular choice for the majority. Its six stated ambitions are built around encouraging participation, creation of opportunities, nurturing talent, facilities, unlocking funding opportunities and support for local communities.

Sport England Strategy (2011/12 – 2014/15) The vision is to be a world leading sporting nation where many more people choose to play sport and create sporting habits for life. Its five strategic themes fall under the headings of: Maximise value from current NGB investment. Places, People, Play. Strategic direction and market intelligence. Set criteria and support system for NGB investment (2013-17). Market development.

Sport England Youth and Community Strategy 2012 – 2017 This outlines how SE will invest over one billion pounds of National Lottery and Exchequer funding over to create a lasting community sport legacy grown from the grassroots level. Its aim is to ensure that playing sport is a lifelong habit, a regular choice for the majority and a specific target is to increase the number of 14 to 25 year olds playing sport - this in particular will prove very difficult (see projections). To accomplish these aims the strategy sets out a series of specific outcomes (see appendices for details).

National Planning Policy Framework The NPPF sets out planning policies for England and provides a framework for local people and councils to produce distinct local and neighbourhood plans which reflect their needs and priorities. It places a focus on sustainable development in relation to the three main themes of an area’s economic, social and environmental context. In so doing it also places a presumption in favour of sustainable development to meet objectively assessed needs.

An ambition to promote healthy communities states planning policies should be based on robust, up-to-date assessments of need for open space, sports and recreation facilities and opportunities. Specific needs and quantitative and qualitative deficiencies and surpluses in local areas should also be identified. This information should be used to inform what provision is required in an area. In effect this provides a cornerstone for the current review.

Investment in school sport In March 2013 the Government announced an investment of £150million in school sport (Sport Premium) over the next two years. Schools will be measured by Ofsted on how well they use their Sport Premium to improve the quality and breadth of PE and sporting provision, including increasing participation in PE and sport so that all pupils develop healthy lifestyles and reach the performance levels they are capable of.

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Policy context - West Lancashire

A series of organisations and partnerships throughout West Lancashire and more widely have sports, health and leisure related policy statements which are generally supportive, often overlap and reinforce one another (see appendices for details). Their ambitions are broadly in accord with one of the key principles stated in the Council’s corporate priorities; this being: To provide opportunities for leisure and culture that together with other Council services contribute to healthier communities

West Lancashire Community Leisure Trust

WLCLT’s vision is for ‘the creation and maintenance of a first class range of healthy and recreational activities serving all parts of West Lancashire’. Its key objectives are:

To encourage participation in physical activity at all ages. To create healthier communities. To use the Trustees to increase partnership working. The development of the community who are socially or economically disadvantaged. To promote equal access to facilities. To increase childhood activity levels and reduce childhood obesity. Energy conservation and reduction of waste.

The Trust and partners wish to increase participation by 1% year on year.

Lancashire Sport (the county sport partnership)

Lancashire Sport consists of local authorities, national governing bodies of sport (NGBs), sports clubs, schools, colleges and universities, public health agencies, Lancashire Police and voluntary sector organisations. Its pledge is that Lancashire will be a place where everyone is inspired and supported to reach their full potential and live more healthy and active lives through sport and physical activity’.

Its priority is to grow the number and quality of places available to take part in sport and physical activity (Lancashire Sport Strategy 2013 – 17).

West Lancashire School Sport Partnership

The partnership believe that all children in the Borough have the right to access high quality physical education and school sport and are committed to working alongside the 58 primary schools, eight secondary schools and four special schools to achieve this.

West Lancashire Borough Council - Citizen Survey Report 2013

The survey reported that 39% of respondents were satisfied with the available sports and leisure facilities, this was down from 46% in 2012; 58% were satisfied with parks and open spaces, this was also down from 65% in 2012; and local parks are the most well used leisure facility.

Recreation, sport & leisure centres and swimming pools featured highly among the services that residents said they do not want to see Council spending reduced on, however, culture and heritage was identified as a service that could be cut.

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Demographic context

The following information presents a brief summary, based on KKP’s area profile for the Borough (see appendices for details), and is based on data taken from nationally recognised sources such as the Office for National Statistics, NOMIS, Sport England and Experian.

Population numbers and age The total population of West Lancashire (2012) is 110,925 (males 49%, females 51%). A large majority of the population lives in the eastern half of the Borough and in a central strip alongside the A59; more than half of the area has little or no population. The main settlements are Skelmersdale, Ormskirk and Burscough; smaller concentrations are found at Up Holland, Hesketh Bank and Tarlton. A below average proportion of the Borough’s population (23.3%) is 15-34 years old (North West 26.1%, England 26.5%).

This suggests a lower level of demand from one of the higher sports participation groups (by age) and from young families. However with slightly higher proportions among some of the older age groups who may have greater levels of disposable income careful consideration should be given to the pitching of sports and physical activity offers; Sport England’s segmentation model may prove helpful in identifying appropriate activities.

Ethnicity 98.1% of the population classify their ethnicity as white, this is markedly higher than the England rate (85.4%) Only 0.8% are Asian, compared to a national average of 7.8%.

Crime Recorded crime (47.2 per ‘000 persons) is substantially below the rate for England and Wales (61.7).

Economic activity and inactivity Three quarters (76.4%) of 16-64 year olds are either in or seeking employment (National average = 77.4%). Unemployment is 6.7% compared to a regional rate of 8.0% and 7.5% nationally. A quarter (23.6%) of 16-64 year olds are economically inactive A fifth are students and/or long term sick (people can fall into more than one group).

Income and benefits dependency The median/mid-point for full-time earnings in the Borough is around £22,911 (2013), compared to £24,986 in the North West and £26,926 for Great Britain; 1,880 people were claiming Job Seekers Allowance (Jan 2014) – this represents 20.0% of benefits claimants; a further 44.6% claim employment support allowance & incapacity benefits and 12.0% are carers.

Car ownership Access to a car (or lack thereof) can be a problem in parts of West Lancashire, in particular in Skelmersdale (29.6%) compared to a national average of 25.8%. The key issue, in this context, becomes the proximity of facilities and the quality/frequency of public transport.

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Deprivation In overall terms, on a measure of Figure 1 Index of multiple deprivation multiple deprivation, only 22.5% of the Borough’s population are in the ‘lowest’ three bands compared a national average of 29.8%. Conversely, rates for health deprivation are noticeably higher and 39.3% are in the lowest three bands compared to 29.7% nationally. There are, however, concentrations in Skelmersdale and to a lesser extent in a small part of Ormskirk (see figure 1).

Health Life expectancy is slightly lower than the national figure; the male rate is currently 78.7 (England 79.2), the female equivalent is 82.5 (England 83.0). Adult obesity rates (22.7%) are below national (24.2%) and regional (23.4%) averages. Child obesity is, however, worse (WL 21.2%, North West 19.7%, England 19.0%). Obesity rates also increase significantly between the ages of 4 and 10, rising from 8.5% to 21.6% with over a third (36.9%) being either overweight or obese by Year 6. This combination of factors suggests that if not addressed now this could lead to worsening health problems for the Borough’s population in the future. Based on the DoH report Be Active Be Healthy, the annual cost to the NHS of physical inactivity in West Lancashire is £2,060,321 – this is more than the cost of developing 3-4 good quality full sized AGPs every year. At £1,915,966 per 100,000 people it is 5.4% above the national rate and 10.7% below the regional average.

Active People Survey Sport England’s Active People survey, now in its seventh year, produced the following key findings for West Lancashire: Participation - just under a third (32.5%) of adults take part in at least 1 x 30 minutes moderate intensity sport per week, this is below the national (35.7%) and regional (35.8%) averages. Volunteering - around 1 in 13 (7.9%) provide at least 1 hour’s volunteering to support sport each week. This is the only key indicator (for Sport England) that is higher than the corresponding national and regional equivalents. Sports club membership - just under 1 in 5 (19.1%) are members of a sports club, based on the four weeks prior to the AP survey. This is below the national average (21.5%) and the regional rate (21.4%). Sports tuition - just under 1 in 8 (11.8%) received sports tuition during the 12 months prior to the AP survey. This was below the regional and national averages. Competitive sport – just over 1 in 18 (6.1%) adults had taken part in competitive sport in the previous 12 months, this was markedly lower than the corresponding national (12.6%) and regional (11.6%) averages.

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Segmentation - sport Sport England’s market segmentation provides an insight into individual sporting behaviours. It covers characteristics from gender and age to the sports that people take part in, the newspapers they read, interests and personal characteristics. Each of the 19 segments is given a pen name and a brief description, for example, the dominant segment in West Lancashire is ‘Tims’ or ‘Settling Down Males’ at 9.3% of adults (7,960) compared to a national average of 8.8%. Knowing the most dominant segments can help direct provision and programming. For example, whilst the needs of smaller segments should not be ignored, it is useful to know which sports are enjoyed by the largest proportion(s) and numbers. Segmentation also enables partners to make tailored interventions, communicate effectively with target market(s) and better understand participation in the context of life stage and lifecycles. The data indicates that Tim, Philip and Roger & Joy are the three dominant groups, representing 28.6% (22,884) of the adult population, this is around two times the national average of 14.2%. All three groups participate in keep fit/gym, cycling and swimming.

Table 1: Sport England market segmentation summaries

Segment, description and its top three sports nationally Tim Sporty male professionals (aged 26-45), buying a 9.3% WLBC Settling Down Males house and settling down with partner. 7.2% North West Cycling (21%) Keep fit/gym (20%) Swimming (15%) 8.8% England Philip Mid-life professional (aged 46-55), sporty males with 9.2% WLBC Comfortable Mid-Life Males older children and more time for themselves. 8.7% North West Cycling (16%) Keep fit/gym (15%) Swimming (12%) 8.6% England Roger & Joy Free-time couples nearing the end of their careers 8.3% WLBC Early Retirement Couples (aged 56-65). 6.5% North West Keep fit/gym (13%) Swimming (13%) Cycling (8%) 6.8% England

The most popular sports in West Lancashire Active People and SE segmentation make it possible to identify the top five sports in any area; within West Lancashire the five main sports are health & fitness/gym activities, cycling, swimming, football and athletics. Health & fitness and cycling participation rates are above the national average. Rates for swimming and athletics are below the national average, this suggests potential market development opportunities.

Segmentation - other Mosaic is a similar segmentation product and classifies all 26 million households by socio- demographics, lifestyles, culture and behaviour. The top five classifications within the Borough represent two thirds (67.0%) of the adult population compared to a national equivalent of less than one third (29.2%). They comprise: Small town diversity - 16.1% of households, almost five times the national rate (3.5%). Characterised as people living in older housing, with strong roots in the community, likely to be in their retirement years, diverse neighbourhoods, unlikely to find people at either extreme of the income distribution. Professional rewards - executive and managerial classes, often in their 40's to 60's, married and live in spacious family homes with children, well maintained properties, living in outer suburbs or semi-rural villages.

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Suburban mindsets - middle class or skilled working class, married and living with children in well maintained family houses, City office or good manufacturing jobs, industrious, value independence, but not necessarily involved with their local community. Ex-Council community - practical and enterprising, have created a comfortable lifestyle through hard work, live on pleasant well-built council estates and may have exercised right to buy, informal community networks centred on family and friends. Claimant cultures - amongst the most disadvantaged people in the UK, may find it a struggle to make ends meet, tendency for children to have low educational attainment, often working in semi-skilled jobs on modest salaries, unemployed, sick or raising children on their own.

Economic impact The direct economic impact of sport in terms of Gross Value Added (GVA)1 has been calculated by Sport England for each local authority in the country. The results for West Lancashire indicate the impact to be c.£24.6 million per annum (669 jobs).

Projected population: Long term change from 2012 to 2037 At strategic and operational levels plans to increase levels of physical activity must be flexible and respond to changes in age structure, gender and ethnic composition. The most recent ONS projections indicate a rise of 1.4% in the Borough’s population (+1,606) over the 25 years from 2012 to 2037. Changes vary by age group and rise and fall over this extended timeframe, for example, the number of:

0-15 year olds will fall by -170 (-0.9%) over the first half of the projection (to 2024) and a further 628 over the second period (-3.1%) to 2037. 16-24 year olds will decline by -12.9% in the first period (-1,794) followed by growth back during the second period but will still remain below current numbers, by -7.1%. 65+ year olds will increase by +25.2% (+5,541) up to 2024 and by 2037 will be 51.5% (+11,304) above the number in 2012.

Short term change – the next decade Service planning is more closely aligned to a shorter time horizon, typically 5 to 10 years. Over the decade to 2024 it is projected that the overall number of people in West Lancashire will rise by +735 (+0.7%). However, significant age specific variations will have implications for different markets, economic and health issues, for example, there will be: +64 (+0.3%) more 0-15 year olds; and -1,760 (-12.6%) fewer 45-54 year olds; and +1,972 (+13.9%) more 55-64 year olds; and +4,272 (+18.4%) more people aged 65+.

Projection implications: By 2037 around 1 in 3 of the population will be aged 65+, consequently there will be an increasing need to consider sports and physical activities for groups above this age.

Conversely, Sport England’s target of ‘increasing the number of 14-25 year olds playing sport once a week’ (by 2017) will prove difficult, not just in West Lancashire but across virtually all local authorities in the country. The target is set for a period of widespread numeric decline; stability in the number of participants would in fact represent an increase in participation rates.

1 Gross value added (GVA) is the value added contributed by a sector, which is principally wages plus profits

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INDOOR SPORTS FACILITIES ASSESSMENT

Methodology The assessment of provision is based on an analysis of the quality, quantity, availability and accessibility for each of the major types of indoor sports provision (i.e. sports halls, swimming pools and health and fitness). Each is considered on a ‘like for like’ basis within its own grouping, in order that it can be assessed for adequacy. The report considers the distribution of, and interrelationship between, all indoor sports facilities in the Borough and evaluates demand and usage. It gives a clear indication of areas of high demand/use and identifies areas in which there is potential to improve, provide additional facilities or work in partnership to meet this demand.

As in many other local authorities, however, there is an overriding imperative that while all strategies should seek to provide equitable and sustainable offers they must sit within and pay due regard to the current climate of financial stringency.

Assessment of supply

Independent site assessments were undertaken by KKP in the presence of facility staff and enhanced by detailed in-situ discussion of issues such as customer perspectives, quality, maintenance etc. A ‘relevance’ and ‘condition’ register was developed which describes:

Facility and scale. Usage/local market. Ownership, management and access arrangements (plus, where available, facility owner/manager aspirations). Management, programming, catchments, user groups, gaps. Location (urban/rural), access and accessibility. Condition, maintenance, existing improvement plans, facility ‘investment status’ (lifespan in the short, medium and long term). Community value (now and in the future). Events capacity. Existing/ planned adjacent facilities.

This enabled identification of the potential of each facility, informed roles to be developed for each and/or the justification for rationalisation as appropriate. Quantity and quality data was captured and analysed on a site by site and collective basis. The resultant data can also be used to directly update Sport England’s Active Places Power database.

Assessment of demand

Facility provision is assessed against demand, taking into account key issues such as population and participation growth. Table 2 summarises overall population change over the 25 years from 2012 to 2037. However, there are significant variations by age group. This is particularly important for the nature of demand and activities that people take part in as these also vary by age (see demographics for further details).

Table 2: Population projections (Source: ONS 2012-based Sub-national population projections)

Curent population Population Population Authority area (2012) (2024) (2037)

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West Lancashire 110,925 111,170 112,531 Demand was initially assessed utilising available Sport England tools (i.e. Active People, Active Places and Market Segmentation). The National Facilities Audit (NFA), Sport England’s model based upon the audit in Active Places, covers strategic provision of community sports facilities, including sports halls and swimming pools. It assesses the requirements for different types of community sports facilities on a national, regional and local scale and helps to determine where said provision is adequate to meet local needs. It thereby provides a baseline assessment of current and future requirements. Provision required to accommodate projected population and potential participation increases i.e. achievement of NGB whole sport plan growth targets (or a locally agreed ratio/target) is then projected. The two are compared alongside existing and planned provision.

User mapping and definition of catchment zones

Where data is available, current users of facilities are set out in mapped format. This enables ‘true’ catchments to be determined and the identification of reach into specific communities to be assessed. It also makes it possible to profile users and can help determine whether facility programmes and pricing policies reflect wider aspirations, especially in relation to health inequalities and deprivation.

Demand analysis was supplemented by data collected during consultation. This enabled key local issues to be taken into account, e.g. where local demand is particularly high and additional provision is required. Consultation was conducted with a range of stakeholders to gather comprehensive coverage of key issues and obtain buy-in to the overall process from key partners.

Catchment areas for different types of facility/activity provide a tool to identify areas currently not served by existing indoor sports facilities. It is recognised that catchment areas vary from person to person, day to day, hour to hour. This problem is tackled using the concept of ‘effective catchment’; defined as the distance travelled by around 75-80% of users. Consultation was conducted by KKP with staff involved in the delivery of the Borough’s sporting and cultural offer, operators, user groups and clubs to help determine where users travel from or how far they would expect members to travel.

This information, allied to KKP’s experience of working with leisure and cultural services in a wide range of local authorities, was used to arrive at appropriate distance/time catchment zones. Applying an equitable model for travel times to sports halls, health and fitness gyms and swimming pools a standard drive time of 10 minutes was applied to all areas.

Membership mapping

The following maps and graphs provide a brief overview of the data provided by the West Lancashire Community Leisure Trust on 15,907 members for five facilities located within the Borough. Following data cleansing (mainly incomplete postcodes) it has been possible to analyse 14,165 records (89%). Main points to note are:

8 in 10 (80.9%) users of all five facilities are residents of WLBC. Park Pool has the largest number of registered members (6,435) this is 45.4% of all registered Trust members (in WLBC). Beacon Park Golf has the smallest number (159); this is only 1.1% of Trust members. 61.6% of members at Beacon Park Golf come from outside West Lancashire.

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Banks has the highest proportion of members from a single ‘other’ local authority area, 35.3% of its members are residents of Sefton.

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Table 3: Leisure Trust members by facility and place of residence

Borough of Beacon Nye Banks Burscough Park Pool All residence Park Golf Bevan 341 61 3,238 2,747 5,068 11,455 West Lancashire 59.9% 38.4% 83.2% 88.4% 78.8% 80.9% Sefton 35.3% 8.2% 6.7% 0.5% 12.3% 9.1% Knowsley 0.5% 3.1% 0.7% 0.2% 2.5% 1.4% Chorley 0.0% 8.8% 3.6% 0.3% 0.2% 1.2% St. Helens 0.5% 4.4% 0.9% 3.1% 2.5% 2.1% Wigan 0.7% 22.6% 1.8% 6.6% 0.9% 2.6% South Ribble 0.9% 2.5% 0.8% 0.1% 0.0% 0.3% Other districts 2.1% 11.9% 2.3% 0.9% 2.8% 2.4% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% Total 569 159 3,893 3,109 6,435 14,165 4.0% 1.1% 27.5% 21.9% 45.4% 100.0%

Figure 2: Trust members by place of residence

All West Lancashire Community Leisure Trust members across five WLBC facilities

West Lancashire Sefton 9.1% Knowsley Chorley St. Helens Wigan 80.9% South Ribble Other districts

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Figure 3: Trust members by facility and place of residence

Banks 59.9% 35.3%

Beacon Park 38.4% 8.2% 8.8% 22.6% 11.9% Golf

Burscough 83.2% 6.7%

Nye Bevan 88.4% 6.6%

Park Pool 78.8% 12.3%

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% West Lancashire Sefton Knowsley Chorley St. Helens Wigan South Ribble Other districts

Figure 4 below shows the spread of members throughout all parts of West Lancashire and beyond. However, the maps that follow highlight the clustering of members for and, to an extent, around each of the individual facilities; this also highlights the Sefton based inflow to use Banks Leisure Centre and influx from Maghull (Liverpool) and Tower Hill (Kirkby).

Figure 4: Trust members of WLBC facilities by home address (14,165 members)

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SPORTS HALLS

Indoor multi-sports halls are defined as areas where a range of sport and recreational activities are carried out. According to this definition they are at least 10m x 18m (i.e. the size of one badminton court including surrounding safety area) and include specifically designed sports halls, such as leisure centres and school sports halls. They can also include halls where activities can take place, such as school assembly halls, community buildings and village halls. Specialist centres, such as dance centres, are not included.

This assessment considers all sports hall facilities in West Lancashire that comprise at least one badminton court. For consideration as a main hall (as defined by Sport England) it must be at least three badminton courts in size and provide a reasonable multi-functional area. Such facilities are commonplace in secondary schools across the Borough. However, it should be noted that 4+ court sports halls provide greater flexibility in that in addition to badminton they accommodate training and competition in major indoor team sports such as basketball and netball.

Site visits and evaluations were conducted at four leisure centres, swimming pools and fitness suites at which management services are currently provided by the West Lancashire Community Leisure Trust; two of these have a sports hall. The proposed development of a new wet and dry facility at Edge Hill University (Sporting Edge) has also been incorporated in the mapping and evaluation exercise.

In situ interviews were conducted at secondary schools to review the standard of facilities and community access arrangements. An on-line club survey sought to review their use, type of activity (casual, training. competition) and grading of facilities. The clubs survey also sought information on factors such as club size, travel to venue/s and use of facilities outside West Lancashire. This information has been further supplemented through telephone interviews with NGBs. This independent research and consultation process was undertaken by KKP – Management Consultants.

Quantity

The primary focus, for the sports halls study, is on larger2 venues that are either directly delivered by WLBC, on its behalf by contractors/partners, run by schools or neighbouring authorities. Sports halls venues of 4-courts or larger account for 50% of the Borough’s total provision. These multi-functional spaces can accommodate a wide range of sports and physical activities.

Active Places data identifies 22 operational halls in West Lancashire, however, 10 are equivalent to one or two badminton courts, one is a three court hall, 10 are four court halls and there is one five court hall at Burscough Racquets & Fitness Centre.

Smaller (1 or 2 court halls) halls can accommodate mat sports, exercise to music and badminton. However, the main significance of larger halls is that they can cater for the aforementioned activities plus borough-wide and regional events and for sports such as basketball, netball, volleyball and 5-a-side football. This potentially makes them significant in the context of sports development and competition programmes. Consequently the focus for the study is on 3+ court halls.

2 Three court halls or larger

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Figure 5: Sports halls by number of badminton courts

Figure 6: Three+ court sports hall provision in West Lancashire

Figure 6 illustrates that sports halls are located in the key settlements of Skelmersdale, Ormskirk, Burscough, Banks and Tarleton. However, with the exception of Banks Leisure Centre and Burscough Racquets and Fitness Centre provision to serve the main areas of population is located on education sites.

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Table 4: 3+court sports hall provision in West Lancashire

Condition ID Site Access Courts Tier Hall Changing rooms 1 Burscough Racquets & Fitness Centre Pay and Play 5 1 – Trust Poor Below average 2 Banks Leisure Centre Pay and Play 3 1 – Trust Poor Below average 3 Tarleton Academy Pay and Play 4 2 - School Above average Below average 4 St Bede's Catholic High School Sports Club/Community Association 4 2 - School Good Good 5 Ormskirk School Sports Club/Community Association 4 2 - School Above average Poor 6 Our Lady Queen of Peace Catholic Sports Club/Community Association 4 2 - School Above average Average Engineering College 7 Lathom High School Technology College Sports Club/Community Association 4 2 - School Above average Average 8 Activ 8 at Glenburn Sports College Sports Club/Community Association 4 2 - School Good Average 9 West Lancashire College Sports Pay and Play 4 2 - School Good Good Complex 10 Sporting Edge Pay and Play 4 3 - University Good Good 11 Sporting Edge Pay and Play 4 3 - University Good Good 12 Sporting Edge Pay and Play 4 3 - University Good Good

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Quality of provision

As part of the study all main sports halls were visited and non-technical visual inspections completed. Site auditors were accompanied by staff including facility managers and teaching staff; these visits provide an overall quality score for each site. As a general rule, the quality of schools’ and University provision is good and facilities are fit for purpose. However, provision at Banks and Burscough, is in poor condition reflecting the age and design of the buildings and the lack of ongoing investment.

Banks Leisure Centre and Burscough Racquets and Fitness Centre were built in the 1970’s and are exhibiting signs of building fatigue. The sports hall at Banks is multi-purpose and incorporates a stage which is used for theatre productions. The hall is glazed and curtained on one side limiting the types and standard of sport, for example badminton, that can be played. The sports hall at Burscough is ageing and whilst originally purpose built it is now dated and of relative poor quality.

Secondary school sports hall provision in the Borough is varied and ranges from good sports halls at Glenburn, St Bede’s Catholic High School and West Lancashire College through to above average amenities at the other four high schools: Lathom, Ormskirk, Our Lady Queen of Peace and Tarleton. The sports hall at West Lancashire College is the one most recently constructed and has been built to a high standard specification. The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) has invested in upgrading the sports hall at St Bede’s with particular emphasis on its use for cricket.

Edge Hill University facilities, known as Sporting Edge, are currently being upgraded. The two poor quality four court sports halls are being replaced with a new eight court stand alone wet /dry centre (opening Jan 2015). The eight court hall being provided at Sporting Edge will be built to a high quality specification reflecting that of the four court hall that will remain.

In addition to the quality of the hall/activity area itself, the quality of changing facilities also plays an important role in influencing and attracting users (especially women and some BME communities). This aspect of quality is incorporated within the assessment of the sports hall provision. Within this context, Sporting Edge has the best provision. Schools are generally average or poor, notably Ormskirk School. WLBC, Trust managed provision is again below average and reflects the age of the building stock.

Accessibility and demand

Borough geography and development of new towns dictated the location of the publicly accessible sports hall in Burscough which, prior to closure in 2013, was complemented by a sports hall in Skelmersdale. Despite its poor physical condition, Burscough still attracts close to 4,000 members from West Lancashire and surrounding local authorities providing sports hall facilities for a mix of 5-a-side football, basketball and badminton. It is open from 07.00 – 22.00 on weekdays, from 09.30 – 18.00 on Saturdays and 10.00 – 19.00 on Sundays. It does not operate at capacity, particularly during the day time but as the only indoor facility available to the general public out of school hours it is well used and has a popular weekly 50+ activity session. On-site car parking is available enhances ease of use.

Membership mapping for Burscough illustrates the Borough wide and cross boundary spread of users of this centre. 83% (c.3,230) of the members of Burscough Fitness and Racquets Centre are borough residents. Conversely 17% (c. 660) are extra-borough with a significant concentration coming from the southern end of the A59 in the Maghull area of Liverpool and to the west from the area around Southport.

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Figure 7: Members of Burscough Fitness & Racquets Centre by home address (3,893 members)

Operating hours at Banks Leisure Centre limit access. It opens at 16,00 on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays with longer hours on Wednesdays and Fridays (10.00 – 22.00). It opens between 09.00 – 15.00 on Saturdays and Sundays.

The centre provides a mix of pay and play and club use in the sports hall and associated community rooms. Despite their poor quality, football is played on the all-weather pitches as the sports hall is unsuitable. Gymnastics is a popular club activity and several disciplines operate out of Banks.

As the membership map (overleaf) illustrates Banks Leisure Centre is popular with residents living in the north of the Sefton local authority area. Banks has c.600 members of whom some 60% (360) are resident in the Borough. Conversely, 40% (c.240) live elsewhere with a significant concentration coming from the area around Southport.

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Figure 8: Members of Banks Leisure Centre by home address (569 members)

Accessibility relative to deprivation

The distribution of halls cuts across all of the more densely populated and most deprived areas of the Borough ensuring that services are (theoretically) accessible for all, other than the most remote, parts of the community (for key to numbering of halls see table 4).

Figure 9: Sports hall distribution relative to IMD

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Availability

A significant barrier to availability across the Borough is the extent to which provision is restricted to school, further and higher education sites. West Lancashire FE College and Edge Hill University both have excellent sports hall accommodation but access is restricted, for the general public and clubs, to (parts of) midweek evenings and weekends.

Furthermore, arranging access is left to individuals and not in any way co-ordinated to ensure that different sports and user groups have equality of access or can obtain a volume of use relative to their numbers or delivery aspirations. Not all school sites operate at capacity. Potential community users would be able to access facilities during evenings and at weekend and several schools have indicated that they could open for additional hours if demand was forthcoming. This may be a case of a mismatch with regard to awareness as demand cannot be either serviced of created unless people are aware that a facility is on offer.

Activ8 at Glenburn Sports College appears to have the highest level of associated club use.

Catchment areas

Appropriate walk and drive time accessibility standards can be applied to indoor sports provision to determine deficiencies in provision. The normal standard is to apply a 20 minute walk time (1 mile radial catchment) for an urban area and a 20 minute drive time for a rural area. Paying due regard to the mixed urban/rural nature of West Lancashire a 10 minute drive time was adopted for all catchment analyses. In order to undertake strategic analyses of catchment zones provision has also been divided into four separate tiers for each of the facility types, these are:

1. Trust/Local Authority; 2. School; 3. University; and 4. Private/members only.

Catchment zone analysis for Tier 1 provision (West Lancashire Community Leisure Trust WLCLT run sports halls) indicates that full community access to sports halls is available to 53.3% of the Borough’s population within 10 minutes, some 59,000 residents. This is due to the fact that there are only two such centres and these are located in two of the least populated settlements - Burscough and Banks (see figure 10).

Figure 10: Tier 1 facilities – 10 minute drive time catchment

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Figure 11: Tier 1 and 2 facilities – 10 minute drive time catchment Figure 11 illustrates the catchment area for Tier 1 and Tier 2 facilities, i.e. the WLCLT provision plus school facilities that are regularly/consistently available on a pay and play basis or enable club access arrangement when not in use by the schools.

The nine facilities in this category are able to meet the needs of 94.7% of the Borough’s population within a 10 minute drive time.

Figure 12: Tier 1, 2 & 3 facilities – 10 minute drive time catchments Figure 12 extends the ten minute catchment to also include Tier 3, University based facilities.

This increases the number of sports halls to 12 yet only increases the population falling within a 10 minute drive time to 94.8% (105,418).

This distinction between Tier 1, 2 & 3 facilities highlights the importance, to the population of West Lancashire, of partnership agreements if satisfactory access to facilities is to be reached.

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Summary and conclusions: Sports halls

As noted, there are 12 sports halls with three or more badminton courts in West Lancashire, the largest is a five court hall in Burscough. Only two of the 12 (Banks and Burscough) are WLCLT provision and therefore readily accessible to the public, however, the standard of these facilities is poor.

The other 10 halls are located on education sites and while their quality is generally good, public access to them is limited to set times; it also tends to be restricted to specific clubs and community associations. Consequently the overall picture is a lack of day time access.

Current provision is accessible to 95% of the population within 10 minutes drive time. However, when restricted to WLCLT facilities this figure falls to 53%, thereby indicating limited daytime access. As access is based on drive time catchments it is also notable that Skelmersdale, in particular, has relatively low levels of car ownership.

Banks and Active8 (Glenburn School) have the highest number and range of community club users. Many facilities have a theoretical potential to accommodate additional club and pay and play users and could open for additional periods of time. In practice there may, however, be a need to address issues related to awareness, club development and security.

Unmet demand for sports hall use across the Borough has not been identified. However, if the Council’s ambitions with regard to physical activity are to be met, new users need to be recruited, markets developed via strong promotional activities and club development involving improved transition from schools, from health schemes to leisure centres etc. implemented

The most significant issue, at present, is the poor quality of the WLCLT’s provision at Banks and Burscough; key questions include:

Can we (the Council) afford to replace the existing facilities? ...if yes ... What can we afford? What represents the best value for money? Where should it be located to best meet resident’s needs? and Are there any alternative solutions?

However, as with all older facilities in poor condition, this question is also tempered by one that asks what is the cost and longer term value of maintaining and pushing funding into older facilities that are no longer really fit for purpose?

If both of the West Lancashire Community Leisure Trust run facilities were to close this would leave residents dependent on education sports hall provision. Although 88% of the population would reside within a 10 minute drive time of sports hall provision, accessibility would be restricted to use after the school day and in some instances further limited to sports clubs and associations as general pay and play would not be available. This would also introduce questions about the quality and availability of public transport at different times of the day and evening.

Additional (new) provision is to open this month (January 2015) at Sporting Edge and will provide an eight court hall built to a high specification. However, once again access will be limited to specific times as the University’s students and clubs will have first priority.

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Recommendations

It is recommended that:

1. A new (minimum four badminton court) sports hall should be developed at Skelmersdale as this represents the highest concentration of the Borough’s population, is the most deprived part of West Lancashire, has deteriorating facilities and does not have a suitable sharing option. 2. A feasibility study and business plan should be undertaken for the above. This should include costings based on a modular development solution as this has greater ability to control costs, minimise risks and provide the capacity for future expansion to be built into the design from the outset. 3. An economic viability assessment should be undertaken for Banks and Burscough Leisure Centres. This should determine their cost-effective future operational lifespan, in particular, for: Banks, relative to the degree of extra local authority provision it provides; and Burscough, giving consideration to the possibility of an improved shared access agreement with Sporting Edge (University) for access to its new facilities. This would be more central to the Ormskirk area, although such an arrangement may require a standing financial agreement. 4. In keeping with the above recommendations, the costs and income potential/capital receipt that might arise from the clearance of Banks and/or Burscough should be assessed

January 2015 23 WEST LANCASHIRE BOROUGH COUNCIL DRAFT LEISURE BUILT FACILITIES ASSESSMENT

SWIMMING POOLS

A swimming pool is; defined as an “enclosed area of water, specifically maintained for all forms of water based sport and recreation”. In its widest context the definition encompasses indoor and outdoor pools, freeform leisure pools and specific diving tanks used for general swimming, teaching, training and diving.

Quantity

The primary focus for the swimming pool study is on larger venues, this is in keeping with the approach adopted by Sport England’s Facility Planning Model (FPM) which excludes pools shorter than 20m in length or under 160 sq m, outdoor pools and private pools. The section that follows thus provides an assessment of more standard pool facilities.

There are nine operational pools within the Borough, of these seven (77.7%) are 20+m in length while the other two are additional complementary facilities at the Leisure Trust’s Nye Bevan and Park pools.

Figure 13: Swimming pools by pool length

With the exception of the two country club pool sites and Tarleton Academy in the far north of the Borough, swimming pool provision is located in the key settlements of Skelmersdale and Ormskirk. As one of the remaining pools is at Bannatyne’s Health Club this means that public swimming is available on only three sites.

One of these, at Edge Hill University, currently offers limited public access although a larger facility than that shown in Table 5 is currently under construction and is due to open in January 2015. The remaining public provision is therefore at only two sites, Nye Bevan and Park Pools (see figure 14).

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Table 5: Swimming pool provision in West Lancashire

Length Condition ID Site Sub-type Access Tier (m) Pool Changing rooms 1 Nye Bevan Pool Main/General Pay and Play 20.0 1 – Trust Below average Poor 1 Nye Bevan Pool Main/General Pay and Play 20.0 1 – Trust Below average Poor 2 Park Pool Main/General Pay and Play 25.0 1 – Trust Below average Poor 2 Park Pool Learner/Teaching/Training Pay and Play 17.0 1 – Trust Below average Poor 3 Tarleton Academy Main/General Pay and Play 25.0 2 - School Above average Below average 4 Sporting Edge Main/General Pay and Play 12.5 3 - University Good Good 5 Bannatynes Health Club Main/General Registered 4 – Private/ 20.0 Not assessed Not assessed (Skelmersdale) Membership use members only 6 Hurlston Hall Golf and Main/General Registered 4 – Private/ 20.0 Not assessed Not assessed Country Club Membership use members only 7 Wrightington Hotel & Main/General Registered 4 – Private/ 20.0 Not assessed Not assessed Country Club Membership use members only

January 2015 25 WEST LANCASHIRE BOROUGH COUNCIL DRAFT LEISURE BUILT FACILITIES ASSESSMENT

Figure 14: Swimming pool provision in West Lancashire

Quality of provision

All main (publicly accessible) swimming pools were visited as part of the study and non- technical visual inspections completed. It was not possible to visit the construction site at Sporting Edge, the new provision (6 lane x 25m pool opening Jan 2015) has however been factored into the analysis. KKP’s site auditors were accompanied by staff, including facility managers and teaching staff; the visits have provided an overall quality score for each facility.

Assessments highlight the poor quality of pool provision in West Lancashire, reflecting again the age of the buildings at Nye Bevan in Skelmersdale and Park Pool in Ormskirk. The school pool at Tarleton Academy does helps to cater for need in the north of the Borough and is of above average quality, however, it is not publicly available at all times.

In addition to the quality of the pools themselves, as noted earlier, the condition of changing facilities plays an important role in influencing and attracting users. The quality of the changing provision at the existing pools provision is assessed as below average or poor.

It is anticipated that the new pool and changing facilities at Sporting Edge will be built to a high specification offering swimming participants high quality pool and changing provision, it may not, however, be available at all times.

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Accessibility and demand

The Active People survey identifies swimming as one of the most popular sports in West Lancashire; 9.1% of the population are estimated to be regular participants. This equates to some 11,000 regular participants.

Discussion with Trust pool facility staff suggested a strong demand for pool based activities at Park Pool and Nye Bevan. Furthermore West Lancashire creates some of the highest demand for swimming lesson provision across the Country.

Figure 15: Members of Nye Bevan Pool by home address (3,109 members)

Figure 15 illustrates the home address of members of the facilities at Nye Bevan Pool. The distribution is well spread across the Borough and this particular facility is also clearly popular with residents from certain areas of the adjoining boroughs of Wigan and St Helens. 88% of the Nye Bevan Centre’s members are West Lancashire residents, however, the core membership is predominantly drawn from the local catchment area of Skelmersdale.

Figure 16 shows the home address of the members of the facilities at Park Pool in Ormskirk. It attracts just over twice as many members as the Nye Bevan Pool. It has a wide ranging catchment across West Lancashire which extends beyond the Borough boundary into the areas of Maghull (Liverpool) and Tower Hill (Knowsley). It also draws users from Skelmersdale but is well patronised by local residents; 80 % of the members are from West Lancashire.

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Figure 16: Members of Park Pool by home address (6,435 members)

Accessibility relative to deprivation

The two public Figure 17: Swimming pools relative to the Index of multiple deprivation. pools in Skelmersdale and Ormskirk ensure that provision reaches residents in the most deprived parts of the Borough.

Skelmersdale, in particular, contains all of West Lancashire’s population that falls into the 20% of most deprived households in England. The scale of this is such that 20,551 people live in the areas within Skelmersdale and that this is 18.7% of West Lancashire’s total population.

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Availability

The WLCLT based facilities at Nye Bevan and Park pools are both accessible for around 14.5 hours per day (from 07.00/07.30 until 22.00) on weekdays and for seven or eight hours at the weekend.

Access to other pools is limited to the two academic institutions (Tarleton and Edge Hill) both of which therefore offer limited hours and private members only facilities.

Catchment analysis

In keeping with the model applied to sports halls a 10 minute drive time was adopted for all catchment analyses. In order to undertake strategic analyses of catchment zones provision is divided into four separate tiers for each of the facility types, these are:

1. Trust/Local Authority; 2. School; 3. University; and 4. Private/members only

Public provision at Ormskirk and Skelmersdale ensures that water space is generally available (within 10 minute drive time) to three quarters (77%) of the Borough’s population and reaches those living in West Lancashire’s more deprived communities.

Figure 18: Tier 1 provision – 10 minute drive time catchment area Figure 18 illustrates the catchment area for the two Tier 1 (Trust) run swimming pools. This illustrates that the swimming pool accommodation in West Lancashire, with full community access is able to meet the needs of 77% of the population, some 85,000 residents.

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Figure 19: Tier 1 and 2 provision 10 minute drive time catchment area

Figure 19 shows the catchment area for tier 1 and tier 2 facilities, i.e. the Trusts provision plus the pool at Tarleton Academy. These three facilities are able to meet the needs of 88.3% (97,919) of the Borough population.

Figure 20: Tier 1, 2 & 3 provision 10 minute drive time catchment area

Figure 20 highlights the catchment area for 3 tiers which adds the pool provision at Edge Hill University. In catchment terms, the six swimming pool facilities on four sites are able to meet the needs of 88.5% (98,145) of the population. The catchment area of the new swimming pool facilities at Sporting Edge will overlap significantly with the catchment area of Park Pool.

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Figure 21 depicts the catchment areas for all four tiers and includes registered private membership use. It increases pool accessibility within a 10 minute catchment area to 94.5% (104,832). However, as privately run facilities the additional pools within tier 4 are not normally included in assessments of publicly available water space.

Figure 21: Tier 1, 2, 3 and 4 provision 10 minute drive time catchment area

Summary and conclusions: Swimming pools

The current supply of swimming pools appears to meet the demand generated and mapped patterns of the distribution of members suggest they draw significant numbers in from outside the authority. Conversely, however it is unclear how many West Lancashire residents travel to pools outside the authority as these may be better or simply more convenient. This said, drive time analysis indicates that the majority of West Lancashire’s population can access a swimming pool that is both inside the authority and falls within 10 minutes drive time.

As with sports hall provision, West Lancashire is to some extent dependent on facilities on education sites to help meet the community swimming facility needs of its residents – particularly if the quality of provision is a significant issue for the user. Both of the public pools in Ormskirk and Skelmersdale (Park Pool and the Nye Bevan Centre) are busy and for a small pool Tarleton Academy is well used after school hours.

The main issue is, arguably, the quality of provision at the Nye Bevan and Park pools. Both were built in the 1970’s, are in danger of reaching the end of their economic life. They are likely to reach a point, within the not too distant future, at which they require significant investment in maintenance and renewal if they are to remain open and continue to service the demand for public swimming. The question now and certainly when that point is reached, relates to the value of pumping funds into older facilities that are no longer really fit for purpose.

Provision at Tarleton Academy benefits residents living in the north of the Borough and the new pool at Sporting Edge will give residents in Ormskirk a choice of pools to attend – in both instances, however, the hours of availability are limited. Although the new University Pool will have more restricted community access, than Park Pool, it will provide a facility of a far higher standard when it opens in 2015.

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As with most local authorities, swimming is a popular activity with a wide range of the population throughout West Lancashire and existing provision is both of poor quality and ageing. The key questions are:

Financial savings could be made by closing the facilities at Nye Bevan Pool and Park Pool. However, such measures would place a significant number of residents beyond the 10 minutes catchment area, only 11% of the population would be within such a distance of Tarleton Academy and if the University pool is factored in this figure would rise to 60% although both would be limited by the need to cater for student access as a priority.

The consequence would be no guaranteed daytime community access to swimming pool facilities. It would therefore impact significantly on the availability of community pool time and the ability of the population to access swimming provision within the Borough.

Recommendations

It is recommended that:

1. A new (minimum of four lanes) pool be developed at Skelmersdale, to replace the Nye Bevan Pool, as this represents the highest concentration of the Borough’s population, is the most deprived part of West Lancashire, has deteriorating facilities and does not have a suitable sharing option. 2. A feasibility study and business plan should be undertaken for the above. This should include costings based on a modular development solution as this has greater ability to control costs, minimise risks and provide the capacity for future expansion to be built into the design from the outset and could be linked to a sports hall (see earlier). 3. An economic viability assessment should be undertaken for Park Pool to determine the: financial viability of its retention and maintenance/improvement, projected lifespan and cost implications; and possibility of an improved shared access agreement with Sporting Edge (University) for access to its new facilities. This would be more central to the Ormskirk area, although such an arrangement may require a standing financial agreement. 4. In keeping with the above recommendations, the costs and income potential/capital receipt that might arise from the clearance of the Park Pool and Nye Bevan sites should be assessed

January 2015 32 WEST LANCASHIRE BOROUGH COUNCIL DRAFT LEISURE BUILT FACILITIES ASSESSMENT

HEALTH AND FITNESS

Health and fitness facilities often generate the highest demand of any provision in any area; their use cuts across age and gender boundaries and as a market it replenishes itself on a regular basis. Due to its level of uptake H&F often provides the financial foundation and security for other, less profitable, sports provision within an overall strategy.

Quantity

The most recent Active Places data indicates that there are 966 fitness stations across 13 operational facilities in West Lancashire. Five of these contain fewer than 50 stations and represent 12.3% of the overall stock, four contain between 20-100 stations and comprise 26.5% of the stock and the remaining four each have 100 stations or more and total 61.2% of the stock. Only one of the larger venues is within a WLCLT leisure centre; this contains 101 (10.5% of the total number of) fitness stations. The other three are private facilities, two of which are members only. The largest, Unite Health and Fitness (formerly Fit for Life), is a private facility that has 240 (24.8%) stations but offers pay and play access.

Figure 22: Health & fitness suites by the number of stations

Active Places provides data on 13 operational health and fitness gyms that are managed by a range of providers from private operators to schools & colleges and the Trust.

Health and fitness facilities are normally defined by a minimum of 20 stations, although some smaller H&F suites have been identified such as those 3G All Weather Football Limited and Lathom High School.

It is a complex picture in which some private clubs are members only while others offer pay and play (see table 6 overleaf). The effect of this is that although two thirds (64.8%) of access is on the basis of pay and play just over half of the available provision takes the form of private clubs and just under half is Trust or University based. Only 1.5% is based in a school and accessed via a local community association. The remaining third (33.6%) is member only.

Private clubs account for two thirds of all stations, splitting these roughly 50:50 between pay & play and members only. In short, Trust based provision only accounts for 26% of available H&F stations within the Borough.

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Table 6: Health & fitness provision in West Lancashire

Stations Condition ID Site Access Tier # % H & F Suite Changing rooms 1 Banks Leisure Centre Pay & Play 24 2.4% 1 – Trust Average Below average 2 Burscough Racquets & Fitness Pay & Play 60 5.9% 1 – Trust Average Below average 3 Nye Bevan Pool Pay & Play 68 6.7% 1 – Trust Average Poor 4 Park Pool Pay and Play 101 9.9% 1 – Trust Average Poor 5 Lathom High School Club/Community 15 1.5% 2 - School - - 6 Sporting Edge Pay & Play 40 3.9% 3 - University - - 7 3G All Weather Football Ltd. Pay & Play 18 1.8% 4 – Private/ members - - 8 Body Pulse Fitness Pay & Play 22 2.2% 4 – Private/ members - - 9 Westgate Health & Fitness Pay & Play 53 5.2% 4 – Private/ members - - 10 Unite Health & Fitness (Fit for life) Pay & Play 240 23.6% 4 – Private/ members - - 11 Hurlston Hall Golf & Country Club Members only 75 7.4% 4 – Private/ members - - 12 Bannatynes Health Club Members only 100 14.8% 4 – Private/ members - - 13 Wrightington Hotel & Country Club Members only 150 14.8% 4 – Private/ members - - Overall total 966 100%

January 2015 34 WEST LANCASHIRE BOROUGH COUNCIL DRAFT LEISURE BUILT FACILITIES ASSESSMENT

Figure 23: Health & Fitness provision West Lancashire

Quality of provision

As part of the study KKP visited WLCLT health and fitness gyms in each of the Authority’s leisure centres and completed non-technical visual inspections. The assessments highlighted consistency in the quality of health and fitness provision across the Borough, this was assessed as being of an average standard. To an extent, this reflects the fact that health and fitness provision has been ‘squeezed’ into available spaces within the leisure centre buildings. None are purpose built and therefore in all centres there is an element of compromise in terms of air handling, ceiling heights, space to accommodate equipment etc.

As noted, with regard in particular to swimming, in addition to the quality of the health and fitness gym itself, the quality of changing facilities is important in influencing and attracting users (especially women and some BME communities). As reported previously changing provision at the leisure centres is assessed as below average or poor.

Accessibility and demand

To identify the adequacy of the quantity of provision a demand calculation is used. This is based on an assumption that ‘UK penetration rates’ will increase slightly in the future and also reflects the Council’s strategic aspirations. Projected population increases3 have also been applied to help determine whether current supply will be sufficient to meet future demand.

3 Source: Office for National Statistics 2012 based projection

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Table 7: Analysis of demand for health and fitness provision

2012 2024 2037 WLBC adult population (aged 16+) 91,084 91,444 93,488 UK average penetration rate 12% 13% 14% Number of potential members 10,930 11,887 13,088 Number of visits per week (1.5 per member) 16,395 17,830 19,632 65% of visits in peak time 10,656 11,589 12,760 Stations required (no/30 peak hours)* 355 386 425 *The above excludes any comfort factor for fitness suites at the peak time which accounts for the over provision in the number of stations.

As noted, the Borough currently has a total of 966 fitness stations across all sites. Based on the average national UK penetration rate, both at present and in the future (2024 & 2037) demand appears to be more than fully catered for. However, the above figures do not incorporate the need for a comfort factor to deal with fluctuations in demand, even within peak periods.

While the projected number of stations required at present is c.355 (table 6) the Trust provision currently totals 253. However it is also clear that there are a number of roles to be filled within the fitness market across the facility infrastructure in the Borough. These range across commercial health and fitness facilities such as Bannatynes, hotels and spa facilities to school and leisure centre facilities.

Furthermore, the public fitness offer is not only aligned to providing a high quality fitness experience, it also supports a range of health and well-being initiatives for residents with longer term limiting illness and weight management issues.

Accessibility relative to deprivation

The distribution of health and fitness gyms cuts across all of the more densely populated and most deprived areas of the Borough. This ensures that services are geographically accessible for all other than the most remote parts of the community. However, as a number of the facilities are provided by commercial operators, on a membership basis, the geographic spread of facilities does not reflect all aspects of accessibility to the extent that it might at first appear.

Availability

Health and fitness facilities are available at all four Trust sites and as such provide both a reasonable geographic and temporal spread due to their opening hours. However, availability in the case of H&F equipment is as likely to be a function of the number of stations. As shown earlier the aggregate provision by Trust facilities is below the anticipated demand level and there is thus a need for residents to gain access to either education or private members facilities.

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Figure 24: Distribution of health and fitness gyms relative to the Index of multiple deprivation. (for gym reference numbers see table 6).

Catchment analysis

In keeping with the model applied to sports halls and swimming pools a 10 minute drive time was adopted for all catchment analyses.

In order to undertake strategic analyses of catchment zones provision has also been divided into four separate tiers for each of the facility types, these are:

1. Trust/Local Authority; 2. School; 3. University; and 4. Private/members only

Figure 25 illustrates the catchment area for the four Trust run health and fitness facilities. This figure illustrates that the health and fitness centres in West Lancashire, with full community access are able to meet the health and fitness needs of 91% of the population, some 101,000 residents within ten minutes drive time.

Figure 25 Tier 1 - 10 minute drive time catchment area

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Figure 26 shows the catchment areas for tier 1 and tier 2 facilities, i.e. the Trusts provision plus the gym at Lathom School. These five facilities are able to meet the needs of 92.5% (102,570) of the Boroughs population.

Figure 26 Tier 1 & 2 10 minute drive time catchment area

Figure 27 illustrates the catchment area for 3 tiers which adds the Health and fitness provision at Sporting Edge. Tier 1,2 and 3 facilities are within a 10 minute drive time of 92.6% of the population (102,747).

Figure 27: Tier 1, 2 and 3 10 minute drive time catchment area

Mapping a ten minute drive time to assess the spatial accessibility of WLBC based provision it indicates that 95.8% (106,230) of West Lancashire’s population live within ten minute drive time of a health and fitness suite.

Figure 28: Tier 1, 2, 3 and 4 10 minute drive time catchment area

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Summary and conclusions: Health & fitness suites

Health and fitness facilities at the Authority’s public sports centres are well used and invariably make a significant contribution to income generated by the Trust. Consequently, they make a significant contribution to the financial viability of the service as a whole.

While geographic access to sports halls and swimming pools, within 10 minutes drive time, is dependent on the inclusion of facilities on education sites to help meet community needs spatial access to health and fitness (H&F) is not quite so constrained as there is provision at each of the Trust’s four (pool and hall) leisure facilities. Consequently, 91% of the Borough’s population resides within 10 minutes of a Trust health and fitness suite.

The next questions must relate to the number of ‘stations’ provided at each of these locations and the standard of the facilities. Although there are four Trust based H&F facilities they only provide a total of 253 stations, this is 102 (29%) fewer than current national averages would suggest are required for a population the size of West Lancashire. This is not of itself unreasonable as you would also expect some provision to be provided by other sectors, typically private member facilities – this is the case in West Lancashire.

It is, however, a concern that none of the Trust based facilities have been designed specifically for H&F, consequently, at best, the spaces present an average offer. Furthermore the changing facilities are either below average or of poor quality; this is very important to several target markets.

Financial savings could be made by closing the Trust run facilities, however, this would remove around 40% of the general pay and play provision, a situation compounded by the fact that the majority of the remaining pay and play is at private clubs with one facility in particular, Unite Health and Fitness, providing 38% of such provision at one location. Consequently access and affordability would be severely compromised.

Recommendations

It is recommended that:

1. Any new public sports hall / swimming provision should incorporate new health and fitness facilities i.e. a fitness suite, strength & conditioning and studio facilities. 2. Ideally, in total, this would meet the overall targets outlined in the report, c.350 at present rising to c.390 by 2024. 3. New facilities should be disaggregated at a minimum of two and no more than four locations, with the number of stations in each being relative to the scale of the local population. 4. Wherever possible, shared/community access should be arranged with schools and Edge Hill University.

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CONSULTATION

The consultation elements of the review comprised staff and NGB consultation, visits to secondary schools, colleges/academies and the University and surveys of local sports clubs, primary schools and parish councils. While the findings of interviews, group discussions and site visits are embodied within the report a summary for each of the surveys is shown below.

Survey of primary schools

Working closely with Local Authority staff, KKP contacted 59 primary schools by e-mail and invited them to take part in an electronic survey about facilities for sport and recreation; 40 schools (68%) completed the survey. They ranged in size from 19 pupils in Lathom to 374 in Ormskirk. The schools teach pupils aged 3-11 years old.

The survey findings identified that none of the 40 responding schools had specific indoor spaces for school sport; 36 (90%) and indicated that they use the school hall for indoor physical education and sports activities. When asked to rate the quality of the hall for physical education and sport 20 (50%) said it was good/very good and only 6 (15%) that it was poor/ very poor.

Figure 29: Perceived quality of school halls for PE & sport (Source: Schools’ survey)

The schools were asked if the space was considered adequate. 27 schools, two thirds (68%) of respondents, felt that this was the case. Of those who felt that it was not suitable the biggest issue was its size and/or its inability to accommodate different games and activities.

When asked if they had any other indoor sports facilities on site, three said that they used adjoining parish rooms and village halls. Only Ormskirk Primary School, co-incidentally the largest primary school in the Borough, had another facility. Ormskirk’s swimming pool was built in 1972 and is used by pupils at the school to learn to swim, it is also hired by a third party swimming school two evenings per week for swimming lessons. The pool is (12m) and is therefore below the Sport England size threshold to feature in Active Places.

All schools which responded to the survey teach swimming; between them they use Park Pool, Nye Bevan Pool and Tarleton School Pool. When asked about the quality of the off-site pools the responses varied from very good to good and adequate, with each facility receiving equals numbers of quality comments.

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In conclusion, sport specific indoor spaces are not available on primary school sites in West Lancashire. However, many have a small multi-purpose hall that could potentially accommodate some activities including, for example, table tennis, martial arts and physical activity classes, such as yoga, pilates etc.

The one specialist facility, the swimming pool at Ormskirk Primary School, has limited dual use. It is reportedly being used for three and a half hours per week by a private swim school.

Parish councils

None of the parish councils which responded to the survey have identified ownership of indoor sports provision.

Survey of local sports clubs

An on-line survey of clubs was conducted among 60 clubs/organisations, to assess:

which indoor sport and recreational facilities are used; whether this is for casual use, training and/or competition/matches; how the facility is rated (from very poor to very good); how far members travel to use facilities; what mode of transport is used; whether the facilities within West Lancashire are adequate to meet club/organisation needs; and the extent of and reasons for use of facilities outside West Lancashire.

However, despite several follow-up calls by WLBC staff, only 10 of the clubs contacted replied to the survey. This has made it difficult to draw any meaningful conclusions from the results.

The findings received ranged from complete satisfaction with the facilities and a belief that they offer good value for money to those who regard both (quality and value) as poor. Given the small number of respondents it was decided not to report publicly on the findings.

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CULTURAL AND OTHER PROVISION

Arts Provision

West Lancashire’s Gallery and Borough Arts programmes are delivered by a team of four staff based in the offices at The Chapel Gallery, Ormskirk. The gallery, opened in 2001, provides the main focus for the arts in West Lancashire and was established, at the site of a former Chapel, with financial help from Arts Council England.

The venue comprises the gallery space, a shop and administration area, café, teaching areas and offices. It is, reportedly, seen as an important regeneration tool and is helping to provide facilities and a series of arts focussed events aimed at attracting visitors to the town centre. In 2013 the gallery has attracted 39,000 visitors.

The arts team run the gallery programme and takes responsibility for arts development and education services; this is a wide and challenging role for a relatively small team, as illustrated by the breadth of responsibilities shown below. The team’s education duties include: Workshops on site. Free talks and tours. Curriculum development advice. An artists in schools programme. Adult learning programmes. A weekend arts club. Teaching experience for Edge Hill University students.

The Arts development role provides project advice, for schools and other partners, and an advocacy role working with other agencies to promote the role of the arts. One example, cited by staff was their involvement in the development of the public realm in conjunction with Lancashire County Council.

The Gallery programme aims to provide for users throughout the age spectrum and across a range of disadvantaged groups. This is clearly a challenging objective to achieve with just a single gallery space in which to programme events. Consideration has been given to proposals to add a second floor gallery space as this would provide greater programming flexibility and allow different user needs to be met concurrently. A funding bid is currently being prepared to deliver this additional gallery space while also providing better disabled access.

Although the preparation of a funding bid to extend the gallery may be assumed to carry an implicit endorsement for staff retention for a service which might then be expected to deliver a larger overall service on more fronts at any given time, this need not be the only model for consideration. External consultants (KKP) have suggested that consideration be given to an alternative approach with the ability to generate a commercial return and thereby to reduce costs while increasing the arts offer to West Lancashire residents.

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Community transferred assets

In 2013 the Council transferred the following indoor leisure facilities to local community groups at a minimal cost and without any guarantee of subsidy:

1. Artz for All; 2. Taekwondo Development Council; 3. Evermoor Enterprises Limited 4. Greenhill Enterprises Limited 5. Tanhouse Enterprise Limited; 6. The Engine Rooms

Figure 30: Community Transferred Assets & Chapel Gallery

Site visits, to each of these facilities and the conduct of in situ interviews confirmed the community hubs and enterprise centres are providing opportunities for various indoor sports and physical activity sessions. Young people and the elderly are the main target user groups with the main emphases being on gentle exercise for the elderly, dance, yoga and martial art classes, as shown by the following examples.

Taekwondo has a dedicated matted facility at the Ashurst Centre in Skelmersdale operated by the Ilyo Taekwondo Club. There is capacity for the development of additional programmes at this facility. Dependent on the club’s financial situation it may be of interest for it to investigate the possibility of a joint venture with a local boxing club. This approach has already proven successful in a number of locations throughout the country. It has helped reduce/share club overheads and thus increased (financial) stability, consequently it is an approach favoured by the NGBs of the sports concerned.

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The Artz for All Centre in Birch Green provides a high quality performance studio that is extensively used by young people for performance art classes and programmes.

The Civic Hall is in demand for community activities, for example tea dances and a range of performance events, such as comedians, music gigs and boxing nights. The Civic Hall and Artz for All, in particular, make valuable contributions as arts participation and performance venues. There Civic Hall is also in demand as a wedding reception venue. The Engine Rooms has plans to invest in the facilities at the Civic Hall which is, at present, felt to be ‘tired, dated and in poor repair.’

The management committees now responsible for these centres are still in their infancy and their long term sustainability will continue to be a key issue. However, they are all delivering a range of community programmes and services and look likely to continue to be available to provide valuable indoor spaces to meet local community needs. This includes several physical activity user groups, who benefit from locally accessible and affordable spaces in which to perform and participate.

Ranger services

As confirmed by the Council’s own Citizens Panel survey, countryside parks and open spaces within the Borough are highly regarded by local residents. They provide venues on a daily basis for a range of physical activities, such as walking, cycling and running/jogging. The tramper vehicles provided by the authority in partnership with the County Council are also particularly popular with disability groups who visit Beacon Park.

The Ranger Service offers a mix of patrol/health and safety, education, events, countryside management and conservation initiatives for thirteen sites across West Lancashire. These comprise ten designated countryside locations and three urban parks:

Richmond Park – Burscough. Coronation Park – Ormskirk. Stanley Park - Skelmersdale.

Coronation Park and Beacon Country Park both hold Green Flag accreditation and have done so for several years, reflecting the high quality of management and value they provide for the community.

Events in the urban parks in the past three years have attracted over 100,000 visitors.

The service is delivered through a head ranger, an urban ranger and two countryside rangers. Two further assistant rangers provide additional contract hours in the summer months. The Service has an on-site office / reception area and a workshop at Beacon Country Park, this is largest of the authority’s countryside recreation sites and receives an estimated 130,000 visits per annum. The office is situated in the car park that is shared with Beacon Golf Club.

Coronation Park also has a dedicated ranger resource and a community base in the bowling green pavilion. Countryside resources are reasonably spread across the Borough, although there is an acknowledged shortfall in provision of sites in the northern parishes and the Tarleton area.

Several local authorities have ‘cut’ their ranger services in recent years; some viewing it as an option for outsourcing. The longer term merits of such a decision are open to debate.

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Resourcing the service is challenging, however, it has successfully attracted inward investment for a number of projects, including woodland improvements, footpath and access development. Its small group of volunteers is also important in helping to implement some of the conservation and management schemes. Volunteers have contributed over 10,000 hours helping to deliver park improvements.

Figure 31: Urban and countryside parks

Table 8: Urban and countryside parks Map ID Park Type 1 Beacon Country Park Countryside 2 Abbey Lakes, Up Holland Countryside 3 Chequer Lane Fishing Lake, Up Holland Countryside 4 Cheshire Lines Path Countryside 5 Dean Wood, Up Holland Countryside 6 Fairy Glen, Appley Bridge Countryside 7 Hunter's Hill, Hilldale Countryside 8 Platts Lane Lake, Burscough Countryside 9 Ruff Wood, Ormskirk Countryside 10 Tawd Valley Park, Skelmersdale Countryside 11 Coronation Park, Ormskirk Urban 12 Stanley Coronation Park, Skelmersdale Urban 13 Richmond Park, Burscough Urban

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