Agenda item

To consider a report by Councillor Julian Thompson-Hill, Lead Member for Finance, Corporate Plan and Performance (copy enclosed) seeking Cabinet approval to appoint Alliance Leisure Services Limited as the Council’s development partner on a four year framework for the development of new facilities and the refurbishment of existing leisure facilities.

RESOLVED that Cabinet approves the proposal to appoint Alliance Leisure Services Limited as the Council’s development partner on a four year framework to enable the continued development of new facilities and the refurbishment of existing leisure facilities within Denbighshire.  Any additional revenue generated will be considered as part of the service budget strategy.

Councillor Julian Thompson-Hill presented the report seeking Cabinet approval to appoint Alliance Leisure Services Limited (Alliance) as the Council’s development partner on a four year framework for the development of new facilities and the refurbishment of existing leisure facilities.  The framework required Cabinet approval due to its size and value – a UK-wide framework up to a maximum £750m.  A legal summary of the framework contact had been attached to the report.

The report outlined the success of the previous framework with Alliance as development partner and the further improvement offered under the new framework which provided the opportunity for the Council to earn significant income which could be used to support the continued development and investment in Denbighshire’s leisure facilities.  Details of the tender and evaluation process for the new framework had also been included within the report leading to the recommendation to appoint Alliance as the Council’s development partner.

Cabinet commended the approach taken to invest in the Council’s leisure facilities for the benefit of residents and visitors, despite the difficult financial circumstances, highlighting the successful projects at Ruthin and Denbigh Leisure Centres and redevelopment of the Nova.  During consideration of the report members raised questions regarding the tender and evaluation process; tender specification including community benefits, and how the Council could further benefit as lead authority under the new framework.  The Lead Member and Head of Facilities, Assets and Housing responded to questions as follows –

·         a Prior Information Notice (PIN) had been issued to test the market which attracted significant interest from major construction companies and when the full OJEU tender went out a number of companies had been in dialogue with the Council but only Alliance had submitted a full tender

·         during the PIN process it had been made clear to interested companies that the Council wanted a relationship with a specialist and completion of tender submissions required companies to visit and understand the local market needs and demand as opposed to submission of a ‘desktop return’ – only Alliance had provided all the information as part of the tender process and went through to the final stage and their merits had been detailed within the report

·         the role of both Denbighshire as lead authority and Alliance was clarified together with their responsibilities and elements of risk – it was noted that management and marketing of the framework was the responsibility of Alliance and in addition to an annual fee of £25k paid by Alliance as the winning provider, every project commissioned through the framework would generate a fee paid to Denbighshire as the lead authority.  Alliance would also carry out concept design work at their own risk with no cost to the Council and all projects would be subject to the normal Council approvals based on affordability and sustainability.  Members’ attention was also drawn to Legal Services summary of the framework contract which had been appended to the report

·         the officer elaborated upon the good relationship with Alliance and strong commercial model within the framework; the framework included elements covering the actual development and partnering and whilst Denbighshire had not taken up a partnering approach, other local authorities could take up that option which would generate further income for Alliance in addition to income generated via construction contracts and funding packages

·         community benefits clauses had been inserted into the new framework for Denbighshire contracts to ensure that spend remained local and analysis on previous projects had revealed high levels of local spend with further work being undertaken in that regard to ensure all local spend elements were recorded.

RESOLVED that Cabinet approves the proposal to appoint Alliance Leisure Services Limited as the Council’s development partner on a four year framework to enable the continued development of new facilities and the refurbishment of existing leisure facilities within Denbighshire.  Any additional revenue generated will be considered as part of the service budget strategy.

At this juncture Councillor Barbara Smith left the meeting.