23.11.10 Contract Report to Oadby & Wigston
Borough Council
The
Council’s Senior Contracts Manager presented a very short report to the Overview
& Scrutiny Committee on the Leisure Services Contract
“This report summarises the present position with regards
to the Leisure Services Contract... The current
issues regarding the contract relate to the catering provision, noise, cleaning contract, general management arrangements,
contract enforcement and profit share.”
These
issues are not exactly new – see below – and LC / Harpers Fitness have made
encouraging noises if not promises in the past. There will be a fuller report
in March. Well, it could hardly be any briefer. Again one is left with the
impression that a Council is shy of embarrassing its contractor in case anyone
should suspect the Council has little talent for managing contracts.
The
Council recently made public, after Freedom of Information Request, a number of
documents relating to its contracted out leisure services and their future. The documents can be access via http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/cultural_services_inspection_gro
These
documents include:
In July 2009, an
Environmental Health Officer wrote to the Catering Company chosen by Leisure
Connection (Lesiurexta, part of the Crown Group) referring to Parklands Leisure
Centre.
"I write regarding a further complaint which this
department has received concerning dirty condition (sic) in the kitchen... The
equipment which I had requested following the complaint back in May 2009 to be
deep cleaned such as the oven and hot plate had been clean. (sic) However the
general condition of the floor was poor and dirty especially behind and under
the hotplate. The hot cabinet was also dirty. This is likely to attract pests.
There were also a few areas where plaster was missing on walls...”
A draft “Review of
Leisure and Recreation Provision within the Borough of Oadby and Wigston 2010”.
This uses a rather crude and unreliable method of redaction, which the Council
claimed was justified “on the basis of commercial sensitivity”. However it is
questionable if one of the redacted sections is commercially sensitive.
“Staff at the PLC (Parklands Leisure Centre) appear
reluctant to participate in GP Referral training and obtain advanced
qualification. This inhibits the expansion of the scheme.” page 116
This
sounds more to me like a concern that should be made public and acted upon. It
also suggests that management is not managing.
10.4.09 Nottingham Evening Post Family hoping to sleep easy at last Reproduced in FullA
woman who has complained for years about noise from a leisure centre
says her family will finally be able to sleep easily after the venue
agreed to limit the volume of music played at events. Jacqui
Rossa, 51, of Wigston Road, Oadby, said noise from music at weddings
and other events held at Parklands leisure centre had made her and her
family's life hell. Neighbours have also complained.Changes had been made to try to tackle the problem, including loft insulation, but with little success. However,
at a meeting of Oadby and Wigston Borough Council's licensing committee
on Wednesday, Leisure Connections, which runs the centre, agreed to
install a sound monitoring system which would automatically lower
speaker volumes when the door to the event venue was opened.The
move was recommended in an independent report by a specialist firm,
which concluded the centre created a "noise nuisance" to people living
nearby.Speaking
after the meeting, Mrs Rossa, who represented residents, said she was
relieved progress had been made but angry it had taken so long. She
said: "We've had 17 years of trouble. It's been horrible. We have five
kids and all through their school life they struggled to get to sleep."The
noise from the centre is unbearable and it's a huge relief for us that
steps are now being taken - even if they have come 17 years too
late. It feels like a victory for the little people."
Michael
Sugiura, who runs a noise control firm, said the GBP4,500 monitoring
system would lower the volume each time the centre's Cedar Suite doors
were opened. He
said: "The centre can't control low-frequency noise. It can be heard up
to 100 metres away and the level rises the further from the building
you go. A building of this type should have provided a noise limiter. If this system is installed, it would limit the amount of low-frequency sound reaching Mrs Rossa."
Councillor
Bill Boulter, who chaired the meeting, said: " Leisure Connection
installed insulation but we were still getting complaints."This
equipment and technology was not available at the time. Now everyone
has reached an agreement, I hope it will be the end of the matter."
Mike Darlison, regional manager for Leisure Connections, said "This
should go a long way to eliminating any noise problems."
Leicester Mercury 21.8.08
Noise Gripes Finally Heard Reproduced in FullResidents have celebrated a crucial victory in a 17-year
battle against noise from a leisure centre. People living near Parklands
leisure centre, in Oadby, have complained since 1991 about noise when events
such as weddings are staged at the venue, saying it was "destroying" their
lives.
They have been unhappy with efforts by Leisure
Connection , which runs the Wigston Road centre, and Oadby and Wigston
Borough Council, to control the problem. However, at a borough council
licensing hearing on Monday, it was agreed that an independent sound consultant
would be appointed to work with the residents and the leisure company over the
next six months to tackle the problem.
Jackie Rossa, who lives in
Wigston Road, said: "You can feel the bass thumping. That sort of noise
causes stress and high blood pressure. You cannot escape from it. My
husband can't watch TV in the living room. It kept my children awake and
disturbed them when they were studying for exams. It has been dreadful. We have complained so many times, but it has never been sorted. We're absolutely delighted with the results of this hearing. Something
has to be done and this is a good start. Finally, our views are being
listened to and someone independent is being brought in." Events are held at the
centre up to five times a week, but Mrs Rossa said she could not hear noise from
all of them - and sometimes there could be a month of quiet before several
nights of noise again.
Another resident, who lives in The Oval, but did
not want to be named, said: "It is a very loud bass noise. We sit up waiting,
knowing it is going to happen. It is destroying our lives, but it would
be simple to sort out. They just need to keep the doors and windows closed and
sort out the air-conditioning." The licensing hearing on Monday was to vary the
conditions attached to the venue's premises licence.
Mike Darlison,
Leisure Connection 's regional manager, said, with the help of
the consultant, the company hoped to find a solution to the problems. He
said: "There has been a history of problems involving noise from Parklands
leisure centre. A lot of work has been done to sound-proof the room,
but clearly this has not worked as well as people thought it would have. We want to work with Oadby and Wigston Borough Council and the local
residents to bring this problem to an end." The application to change the
premises licence included adding licensable activities, including allowing plays
to be performed and films to be shown at the venue, and the provision of
late-night refreshments.
The licensing panel of Oadby and Wigston
Borough Council granted this addition on Monday, but said the noise problems
must be addressed.
A council spokesman said: "Residents have complained
about noise levels, which the council is investigating, by the appointment of an
independent noise consultant.''
12.5.08 from Annual Report to the Scrutiny
Panel for the 2007/08 Municipal Year 12.5.08
http://www.oadby-wigston.gov.uk/Home/Councillors%20and%20Committees/Agenda%20and%20Reports/Scrutiny/2008-09/2008-05-02/2008-05-20%20Annual%20Report%20Appendixgal%20.pdf
Leisure Connection – Review
At the meeting held on 29th October 2007 the
Panel received a report on the operation of the Council’s Leisure Contract
which was provided by Leisure Connection. The meeting was also attended by the
Leisure Connection Contracts Manager and also the Regional Manager, who
informed Members of progress made with the leisure facility since the widely
publicised problems of earlier in the year. A review had been conducted of the
structure of the operation and changes made. New procedures had been
introduced, new training initiatives undertaken and new lines of communication
opened with the Council. The company had conducted a ‘back to basics’ exercise
with all aspects of the operations reviewed. It had provided the opportunity
for more flexible working between sites and for staff to have opportunities for
further training.
It was anticipated that a marked
improvement in standards would be reported by 31st December
2007. A new computer system, coupled with barriers to entry was being
introduced, not only to control access and exits, thus avoiding lost income,
but also to record and retain customer data. This could be used in the
marketing of the services, particularly with promotional offers. It was anticipated
that these would be in place by March 2008.
During discussion on this topic
the catering received most attention. Leisure Connection confirmed plans to
introduce new catering facilities across all these sites, with vending machines
being introduced at the swimming pools. At Parklands it was intended to introduce
an enclosed bar area and a continental café environment. This was proposed to
be a franchise operation but under the terms of the contract approval from the
Council was required before any sub-letting could take place.
A separate review under the
provisions of the Disability Discrimination Act was being undertaken at the
Wigston Pool following a report received from the Council earlier in the year. The
Panel agreed that this situation would be reviewed again in six months time
when a review of usage figures would be undertaken, and the catering facility
would hopefully be resolved.
Outcome
The Panel will be revisiting this
topic at its October 2008 meeting and will consider the subject of catering in
March 2009.
Back to
basics, eh? And just how was it that standards slipped so far? See below. PB
From Audit Commission "Annual Audit and Inspection Letter - Oadby and Wigston Borough Council" March 2008 http://www.oadby-wigston.gov.uk/Home/Policies/Annual%20Audit/audit_letter.pdf
21. Improvements following the Audit Commission’s Culture inspection (published in July 2007) which found that the Council delivered a fair, one-star service with poor prospects for improvement, have not all been completed and key information about user numbers at leisure centres is still not collected. This means the Council cannot assess the success of initiatives, or manage them against key targets. Overall satisfaction with the Council’s leisure services, at 51 per cent, is amongst the lowest nationally.
25. ... The annual performance plan focuses on actions instead of outcomes that will make a difference to local people. Some plans for improvement lack clear milestones, against which to measure progress, and actions are not always assigned. Consequently, some areas for improvement have had significant attention but have not yet delivered the expected improvement. For example numerous meetings have been held with the leisure contractor, by various officers and councillors, yet the desired outcome (in this case, knowing the numbers and types of users) has yet to be resolved. ...
21.9.07
A user writes to The Leicester Mercury SWIMMING POOL NOT UP TO SCRATCH
Text reproduced in full
www.thisisleicestershire.co.uk/displayNode.jsp?nodeId=132938&command=displayContent&sourceNode=132547&contentPK=18450198&folderPk=77483&pNodeId=132438
I
was interested to read (Mercury, September 15) about Leisure Connection
being fined for failing to keep the Oadby and Wigston swimming pools
clean.
I have been a regular swimmer at the Oadby pool since it opened and I
have complained for a very long time about the state of the facilities,
in particular the ladies changing room. I have written previously to
Leisure Connections head office in Leeds, but received no reply.
I visited the pool on three occasions last week and I can assure the
regional manager that things have certainly not "improved massively" as
he claims.
The toilets were dirty at 8am on Monday and did not appear to have been
cleaned during the week at all. Surely in a public facility such as
this, toilets should and must be cleaned and disinfected on a daily
basis.
Mrs M Beaumont, Oadby.
15.9.07
COMPANY FINED OVER DIRTY SWIMMING POOLS by Paul Conroy, Leicester Mercury
http://snipurl.com/1r4r6
Text reproduced in full
A company running council-owned swimming pools has been fined for
failing to clean them properly.
Council bosses say the problem at the Oadby and Wigston swimming baths
led to the resignation of a pools manager.
Oadby and Wigston Borough Council took the action against Leisure
Connection after investigating complaints from users about the pools.
People had complained about the cleanliness and state of repair of the pools as well as the changing rooms.
The firm was fined a total of £2,500 for the problems, which dated back to March and April this year.
Details of the problems have only just emerged in the minutes of a meeting, which will go before the council on Tuesday.
A council report
said: "The senior contracts manager's inquiries revealed that the
problems were largely a result of poor management on site.
"As a result of bringing this to the attention of Leisure Connection's
senior management, a pools manager has resigned his position and steps
are being taken to improve the morale of the workforce at the pools."
(This is contradicted below by LC, suggesting poor
communication between the council and the company. PB)
Leisure Connection denied the manager resigned over the failures,
saying he left for another job and had been looking for a new position
for some time.
The council said standards have improved but increased monitoring had
continued to ensure they do not slip back.
(Given the criticism by the Audit Commission - see next
item below - one would very much hope there has been effective monitoring.
PB)
Mike Darlison, regional manager for Leisure Connection, said: "We did have some issues at the time, we had some staff turnover.
Clearly standards dropped at the time. Things have improved massively."
He said the firm had been working with the council for 18 years and there had never been "anything of this nature" before.
(Or lack of monitoring let LC get away with it. PB)
Coun Bill Boulter, who chairs the services committee that looked at the
problems, said he was satisfied with the job now being done by Leisure
Connection.
He said: "Things are a lot better. There won't be a repeat of the problems. "I think it was a management problem at the pools.
It was just a lack of managers' control." (Not
"just" lack of control by LC. Why wasn't the Council doing its job of
monitoring the contract effectively? PB)
Ruth Arnold, who is a coach for Oadby and Wigston swimming club, said both pools had been in a poor condition.
She said they
were neither clean nor properly maintained with problems like a door
missing off a toilet left for months before being fixed.
She said: "All the major things have been addressed, probably since the
fine. But it's not as clean as you would like it - there's general
grubbiness."
Alison Blissett, 28, from Fleckney, uses Wigston pool with her two children Georgia, six, and
Lattisha, four. She said:
"I've noticed it getting worse and worse over the past year. The
toilets are dirty, there's water everywhere and the shower cubicles are
absolutely disgusting.
"I make my children go to the toilet before they leave the house
because it's so dirty here. It was particularly bad in March and April
but I would not really say that it had got any better."
The Audit Commission inspected the council's leisure provisions in June
and was critical of the authority. It said the number of people using
the pool was falling and it was down by 18 per cent since 2004 to 05.
How
Not to Manage a Leisure Contract
In
July 2007 the Audit Commission published the results of a detailed Inspection Report into Cultural Services at Oadby and Wigston Borough Council http://www.audit-commission.gov.uk/Products/BVIR/036833C5-F672-4cc5-9F29-04E7D194B088/OadbyandWigstonBC-CulturalServices05Jul07REP.pdf
The
report included the Council's Parklands Leisure / Banqueting
Centre, Oadby Swimming Pool and Wigston Swimming pool, all outsourced to LC.
Under
"How
well does the service manage performance?"
"The
Council is not challenging the leisure contractor to improve performance. A
presentation to the Scrutiny Panel in October 2005, a few months before the
contract was renewed, highlighted the contractor’s intention to increase usage
of the leisure facilities by 25 per cent over the next five years and to engage
all sectors of the population. However, attendances have fallen and are targeted
to fall further. Not all of the community projects relating to sport and
recreation
agreed for 2006/07 have been effectively delivered." (Words
are even cheaper when there is poor contract management. I don't assume this is
down to the quality of the council staff. Insufficient staff and resources to
ensure performance, poorly worded contracts and lack of political will to use penalties
are also factors. What should be clear by now is that contractors must be
proactively managed because trust is not enough. PB)
"...
in 2006 the Council extended the contract to
manage its swimming pools and leisure centres to 2014 without the benefit of an
evaluation of the condition of the facilities, planned as part of the asset
portfolio review in 2007. The Council may find it has signed up to operate its
current leisure facilities that
are not fit for purpose..."
Recommendation
"Improve its performance management of
cultural services by... developing more output and outcome
measures and associated targets for itself, its contractor and partners
including indicators that specifically measure value for money..."
Other Extracts
"The
Council has not worked with the leisure contractor and other partners to
overcome known cost barriers. The survey of participation in sports and leisure
activities carried out by the Council in 2005 identified cost as the main
barrier to swimming, playing badminton and using a gym. Further consultation
carried out in 2006 as part of the Council’s budget-setting exercise showed
that almost one in ten of those responding gave affordability as a reason
preventing them from using the swimming pools and leisure centre, the second
most frequently stated reason. Decisions on pricing and concessions are
not effectively supporting the community plan priority to overcome barriers to
accessibility of leisure particularly among target groups."
"The Council’s approach to service
standards is weak. Although a customer charter is in place at the facilities
managed by the leisure contractor, the Council does not have a comprehensive
suite of service standards across cultural services. This
means that local people do not know what levels of service to expect or have
sufficient information to judge whether the Council is providing a
good service."
Extracts from Services Committee
22nd August 2006 LEISURE CONNECTION –
PROGRESS REPORT http://www.oadby-wigston.gov.uk/Home/Councillors%20and%20Committees/Agenda%20and%20Reports/Services/2006-07/2006-08-22/Leicesure%20Connection%20Progress%20Report.pdf
Leisure
Connection, following pressure from your officers, have employed a Maintenance technician for 20 hours a week
across the sites with the primary objective of
reducing down time to all our facilities and to improve the standard...
During the last six months a
default notice was served on Leisure Connection for failing to
rectify a problem within the allocated time...
Officers have also expressed
concern regarding usage figures which are enclosed .Leisure Connection are
putting proposals together to increase usage...