BOROUGH COUNCIL REPORT TO THE FULL COUNCIL Internal link to previous report

PORTFOLIO: LEISURE AND CULTURE

EXECUTIVE MEMBER: COUNCILLOR JOHN HARBOUR

DATE OF REPORT: 28/08/2013

Progress on Strategic Objectives

PE2 Developing opportunities and sustaining ambition of local residents

Action Progress PE2c - Implement the Pennine Following the award of a grant of £314,000 from Shared Museums Arts Council England, Marketing Lancashire has Programme with other been appointed to prepare a business neighbouring authorities. development plan for the 7 Pennine Lancashire Museums and a joint marketing programme is underway.

At Towneley Hall £24,000 from the Arts Council grant and an additional £12,500 from Stocks Massey will be used to develop new family friendly activities and interpretation material with the aim of ensuring families get the most out of a visit to Towneley and are encouraged to visit again.

PE2d- Continue to develop the Further design work on the Prairie Sports leisure and cultural offer of Complex has taken place and another public Burnley including the consultation event will take place prior to the development of the Prairie Sports planning application being made in mid- Complex September. A report detailing phase one of the project, (the tender to design and build the new 3G Pitch) will be submitted to the Executive in September.

Padiham Leisure Centre recently hosted a special event to celebrate the one year anniversary of the opening of the London 2012 Olympics. Working with Change4life and UKactive as part of a national campaign, the centre offered its facilities free for non-members for the day. This included various swimming activities, group fitness classes, ballroom dancing, gym inductions and health check MOTs. There was also the 9 th annual ‘Mayors Mile’, with all entry fees donated to the Mayors charity. The public took advantage of the no joining fee offer for all new members on the day with 45 people signing up. A similar event will take place at St Peters Centre in September to celebrate the closure of the 2012 Paralympics.

We have teamed up with Rounders England, Burnley College and the School Sports Partnership to develop the game with the aim of setting up regular sessions and perhaps a Burnley League. It has already been very successful, with over 40 women attending a regular session at Shuttleworth College. The next stage will be a corporate event in which we will invite teams from local businesses to take part.

We have secured funding from the Ribble Rivers URES project to employ an artist to work with young people to creatively explore and document the three rivers in Burnley. The young people will learn skills in photography, narration, film and animation and will gain a bronze arts award.

Five artists are currently working with residents in South West Burnley, exploring themes relating to sense of place, pride and confidence. An accumulation of some of the work can be seen in an exhibition at Habergham Mill from the 1 – 14 th September.

Burnley is one of 5 local authorities to be invited to apply to a Government and Arts Council Initiative called Arts and Communities. The aim of the project is to support and showcase good practice in the arts and culture that brings communities together by increasing participation, building common ground and promoting stronger and more integrated communities. We will be able to apply for up to £80k each year for two years. Only areas that are recognised for previously delivering good quality work in this area have been invited to apply, so it is great that Burnley has been chosen.

Through the Canal and River Trust, the 2nd Burnley Canal Festival will take place on the 13th, 14th and 15th September 2013. Over 50 canal boats will be moored around Burnley Wharf, with events taking place at the Inn On the Wharf, the Straight Mile, and the Weavers’ Triangle. These include a floating cinema, stalls, fun kids events, boat trips, live music, kayaking taster sessions, best decorated boat competition, street theatre, craft stalls, firework display and visits to historic heritage buildings.

In partnership with CAMRA, the 2 nd Burnley Beer Festival will take place at Burnley Mechanics on 5th , 6 th and 7 th of September. The Festival will include 90 beers plus food, live music, and a charity prize draw. PE3 Ensuring Services to vulnerable groups are protected wherever possible

Action Progress PE3c - Implement the Children The Children’s Trust has successfully co- and Young People's Plan for ordinated the distribution of 15,000 “Summer Fun” Burnley holiday activity brochures. This year’s holiday programme provided an excellent range of activities for young people in the borough during the summer holidays. The Get in2 programme has included low cost day trips to St Annes and Blackpool; sport and play camps in the parks, and full day holiday clubs at St Peter’s. We have added some additional activities this year too, with free canoeing on the boating lake in Thompson Park, ‘Xplorer’, which is an orienteering based activity for families with young children, and outdoor adventure camps. Our annual Play Day event at on 7 th August was a great success again with over 1500 visitors in just one afternoon.

The Trust also got agreement from partners to increase the number of truancy sweeps in the academic year from 1 to 2. The last sweep, in May, stopped 26 individuals of which 14 were unauthorised absentees who were subsequently taken back to school.

A sub-group of the Trust is also tackling the difficult issue of reducing childhood obesity. Partners are looking at way to get parents actively involved, alongside their children, in healthy activities. PL3 Making the Borough Greener

Action Progress PL3b –Adopt and implement the Work is progressing on the green spaces Borough’s Green Space Strategy strategy. Information from the 2011 census is being used to undertake an assessment of open space provision across the borough.

The Council was successful in winning Green Flag awards for each of the 6 main parks in the borough, thanks to the hard work of both staff and the park friends groups.

The contract to replace Burnley Wood Park play area is currently underway and following a successful grant application by Hapton Parish Council, the development of a new play area on the former bowling green at Hapton Recreation ground will commence shortly.

PL3c – Develop “Parks for As previously reported, this scheme will be People” Heritage Lottery Fund bid progressed during the autumn. for Thompson Park

PL3d – In partnership with other Forestry Commission grants have been approved agencies, implement the Brun for both Burnley Borough and Lancashire County Valley Forest Park scheme. Council owned woodland in Brun Valley Forest park which will enable the next phase of work, including opening up access routes across the former landfill site and the new bridge at Netherwood Road is underway.

Although the planning application for the wake boarding facility was not approved, the other planned improvements at Rowley, including resurfacing of Rowley Lane, improvement to the car park and completion of footpath improvements will take place during the winter.

A successful drop-in public consultation was held on 18 th July at the Youth Theatre, which provided an opportunity for local residents and users to comment on designs for the forest park.

PF3 Improved Services

Action Progress PF2a – Evaluate and implement Work continues on the move to a leisure trust, the options appraisal for the three project teams have been established to look delivery of leisure and recreation at the detail of the transfer and these are Finance, facilities and decide whether to People and Property and Legal. The detailed proceed with a Leisure Trust work from these groups is being fed back to the Project Board at its monthly meetings.

The recruitment campaign for appointing community trustees to the new Trust Board will commence in September.

A progress report was provided for the August Community Services Scrutiny Committee and a further report is planned for their October meeting. In addition, as stated in my last report, a Member briefing will be arranged for later in the Municipal Year.