REPORT OF THE ASSISTANT CHIEF EXECUTIVE, LEGAL AND GOVERNANCE TO THE LICENSING BOARD 97/08 Safety of Sports Grounds Act, 1975 (As Amended) Owlerton Stadium - Regulated Stand – General Safety Certificate 1.0 PURPOSE 1.1 To confirm the decision of the Assistant Chief Executive, Legal and Governance to grant an amended and revised General Safety Certificate in respect of the Owlerton Stadium. 2.0 INTRODUCTION 2.1 Recommendation 29 of the final report of Lord Justice Taylor into the Hillsborough Stadium Disaster states: - ..every stadium certificate should be reviewed by the local authority at least once annually and each certificate should require to be renewed annually.. 2.2 In accordance with this recommendation a review of the General Safety Certificate was undertaken during February / March / April 2008. 2.3 The stadiums engineers produced a structural report (Doyle Partnership) and all the nominated authorities provided their annual reports in March 2008. A Safety Advisory Group Meeting was held on the 20 th March 2008 to discuss the contents of the aforementioned reports and actions were agreed. 2.4 Following further inspections of the stadium to confirm that the actions agreed by the group had been carried out to a satisfactory level and the receipt of all the certificates detailed in Schedule 7 a Safety Certificate was issued. 2.5 The amended and revised General Safety Certificate was issued and hand delivered on the 6th May 2008 at 11:12am. 2.6 A copy of the General Safety Certificate will be produced at the meeting for members. 3.0 ADVERTISEMENT 3.1 The issue of the amended and revised General Safety Certificate will be advertised in accordance with the legislation. 3.2 A copy of the advertisement is attached at Appendix A. 4.0 ALTERATIONS TO THE STADIUM 4.1 Minor alterations have been made to the Owlerton Stadium during the year 2007 /2008. 4.2 The work includes minor alterations to store rooms and gaming machine areas. 4.3 The stadium is planning to undertake a major extension to the Panorama Room Restaurant in 2008/09. Provisional plans for this work have been submitted. 4.4 As the Certifying Authority we have requested new plans to be produced under schedule 8 of the Safety Certificate. 5.0 SAFETY OFFICER RESPONSIBILITIES / DUTIES 5.1 Schedule 13 in the safety certificate sets out the main responsibilities and duties of the safety officer. 5.2 The schedule informs the safety officer of the checks that should be carried out prior to each event. 6.0 FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS 6.1 There are no financial implications for the Council arising from this report. 7.0 RECOMMENDATION 7.1 To confirm the decision of the Assistant Chief Executive, Legal and Governance authorising the grant of an amended and revised General Safety Certificate in respect of the Owlerton Stadium, Penistone Road, Sheffield, S6. Liz Bashforth Assistant Chief Executive Legal and Governance Town Hall Sheffield S1 2HH November/2008/SJL .