The Committee is invited to comment on the recommendations made.

(Councillors KS Guthrie and JW Millar declared an interest)

The Committee received a report on Cabinet’s decision to cease direct provision of Outdoor Education Services at Castle Green, Hereford and Bodenham Lake.

The Head of Locality Services reported that in June 2012 Cabinet made the recommendation that Outdoor Education should be subject to market testing to determine if it were commercially viable with no public subsidy.  Whilst the Council did have both access to the river and to the lake, as well as serviceable assets in the form of boats and boatsheds, there was no available funding for the service.  Commercial providers to whom she had spoken had suggested that they would be interested in running a service as there was a market.  All the providers had been clear that it was extremely difficult to run a commercially viable operation that specialised entirely in outdoor education. In the ensuing discussion, the following points were raised:

A Member said that, in the year where much was being made of the Olympic legacy in the country as a whole, she was concerned that families on low incomes would lose the opportunity to use the assets that were currently available to them.  She asked whether consideration had been given to setting up a charity that would be able to draw down funding from bodies such as Sport England.

In reply, the Head of Locality Services said that the Council was not trying to close the service, but was pointing out that others were in a better position to provide it.  Changes in statutory duties for the Council also meant that whilst it had, in the past, a duty to provide positive access to outdoor education, it was now obliged to consider the health and wellbeing of young people.  The Council was in a position to work with providers and local voluntary sector groups to facilitate the provision of the service. These companies would undertake to provide activities for disadvantaged and low income groups were they to be provided with the assets and access currently enjoyed by the Outdoor Education service. She added that following extensive public consultation, funds had been made available to each Locality for outdoor access youth provision.

In reply to a question regarding the staff currently employed the Head of Locality Services went on to say that of the two casual staff employed, one was passed retirement age and was content to retire, whilst the other worked for other providers across the County, and would continue to do so.  There was one full time employee who would be supported to stay, but who would undoubtedly have no trouble gaining a similar post with the providers listed in the appendix to the report.

In reply to a comment from the Chairman concerning the inclusion of Bodenham Lake as an alternative option, the Cabinet Member (Health & Wellbeing) said that this had been considered as an alternative centre, but that the restrictive covenants in place would not make it possible to operate it as a commercially.

RESOLVED: That the recommendations included in the report be supported, subject to an updated report being brought back to the Committee in twelve months’ time.