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Willesden Sports Centre - Bent Logic The trick with moving goal posts is stealth and not to score own goals by being caught out! A Brent Council press release in October 2006 claims that the new Willesden Sports Centre, opening on November 1st, "has been completed on time." A piece in the autumn newsletter of Leisure Management Contractors Association goes further and claims "... the facility opens in October 2006 within budget and one month ahead of schedule." Presumably the copy for the LMCA came from LC? Before getting into the details of the delays credit to the construction company for finishing their work on time. But demerits for Brent Council and LC for using the builder's achievement to suggest that the whole project had gone swimmingly. The council's own paper trail makes it very clear this is not the case. The Council and LC produced newsletters about the development of the new centre. WSC News 1 from January 2004 announced, "The new Willesden Sports Centre is expected to reopen late 2005." This makes the new centre at least ten months late. But another council document March 03 had stated "the scheduled completion date was set for November 2005" WSC
News 2 in April 2004 revised to "… expected to reopen early
2006."
In July 2004 WSC
News 3 doesn’t mention opening but says that the old centre "…is
due to close at the end of the day on Friday 27th August 2004" with five weeks of
much reduced facilities until that date. WSC
News 4 in May 2005 informs us "Builders started demolishing the old
centre in March 2005 and it will take approximately 20 months, the end of 2006,
until the new centre opens." Why
the centre closed seven months before demolition is not explained but it doesn't
suggest things going to schedule. From
the closure of the centre Brent was down to one swimming pool for the whole
borough. A major contributor to the delay was that the council opted in April 2001 to use Private Finance Initiative funding for the new centre. Companies were invited to bid towards the end of 2002. Despite only two bids being received it took until August 2003 for the preferred bidder to be announced. From August 2003 to the start of demolition took 21 months. There are also references to the centre being completed on budget. Given the widespread publicity about the super-profitability of PFI projects one would hope so. And does "on budget" include the extra financial provision for "Japanese knotweed" and "adverse dark ground" mentioned in a report from the Director of Environment in June 2005. Other Dates and References April 2001 - Council agrees to go for PFI redevelopment - http://www.brent.gov.uk/cabrep.nsf/68329cf6b9120cd6802568000062070c/f74fbfa73b0ca8de80256a10005685a6/$FILE/cd10apg.pdf Companies were invited to bid towards the end of 2002 - http://www.brent.gov.uk/sports.nsf/0/ff518887528e41ab80256db90050b714?OpenDocument From Harlesden AFC Report 11.11.03 "Mr. David Steele added that planning consent for the redevelopment, which would involve the demolition of the existing structure, would be submitted for consideration by Brent Planning Committee on 14th January 2004 and the scheduled completion date was set for November 2005." http://www.brent.gov.uk/consultation.nsf/24878f4b00d4f0f68025663c006c7944/13aec51d53a3cb5b80256dfa005907c8!OpenDocument Report From The Head Of Sports And Community Facilities in September 2002 gives schedule for the PFI deal with "Contract signed March 2004" and "Construction period 2004-2006." http://www.brent.gov.uk/democracy.nsf/0/48458ae6356a7b5180256c31006104ec/$FILE/Cor-Willes%20PFI.pdf In fact the contract was not completed until March 2005. A Sports & Leisure Development Framework approved by Brent Council in February 2003 says, "The council will progress the Willesden sports centre PFI project as a priority." https://www.brent.gov.uk/sports.nsf/61b63a407eca7a438025663c0065cadd/4be3026b3a28e51480256a6f003807d1/$FILE/A%20Sports%20and%20Leisure%20Development%20Framework%20for%20Brent.pdf Linteum Consortium (which includes LC) announced preferred bidder - August 2003 http://www.brent.gov.uk/www.nsf/0/044c5f83a0af1e5b80256efa005a6e28?OpenDocument LC Web Info for Old Centre Still There As of 9 August 2005 Willesden Sports Centre has been closed for over 11 and a half months. Yet type "Willesden Sports Centre" into and you get a link to http://willesden.leisureconnection.co.uk/ This web page is as it was over a year ago, and even then it was out of date with references to an exhibition that ended in 2003. Not exactly a good omen for how the new centre will be managed. Doesn't a £15 million contract to develop a new centre merit a little updating of the website? Would you go back to a shop that kept short-changing you? The finalised contract for Willesden Leisure Centre was announced on 11.3.05, by which time the centre had been closed for six months. Other partners in the consortium are Barclays, McAlpine, Dyer Associates and Linteum but it is LC that will run the centre, for, God help the users and rate payers, 25 years. In a meeting with the council, it was indicated to me that Brent had no choice but to accept the "best" bid and could not take the record of LC into account. That record includes the following, obtained from Brent Council under Freedom of Information. From
Minutes of a Sports
Service High Level Monitoring Meeting 7.5.04. The minutes go on to say how despite the poor service Vale Farm has achieved QUEST accreditation, hardly an endorsement for this award. Bill O'Neill's Correspondence reveals poor standards over time at the old Willesden including grubbiness, inappropriate behaviour not being challenged and staff shortages. More recently Bill tackled the council's acceptance of reduced hours because the pool was closing. From:
The Willesden Herald
To:
Paul Burns As
a former user of Willesden Sports Centre, I recognise the descriptions of dirty
conditions, unreliable shower temperatures, mostly broken lockers etc from Vale
Farm. The Willesden Sports Centre is scheduled for demolition shortly and
rebuilding in a massive project that will take three years...
The Editor,
Willesden
Herald, www.willesdenherald.com |
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