Agenda item

a) Agree in principle to provide match funding of up to £200,000 to support the Ward Freeman Community Pool Group CIO application to the Government’s Community Ownership Fund.

b) Authorise the Head of Strategic Finance and Property to issue a letter of support for the Community Ownership Fund bid setting out the in-principle match funding agreement.

c) Authorise the Head of Strategic Finance and Property to include in the letter the additional information concerning a publicly owned asset that the application will require.

The Executive Member for Financial Sustainability presented the report. He said that the Ward Freman pool had to be closed in December 2023 due to health and safety concerns but since then, a community pool group had been formed and registered as a charity. He said that this group intended to make a bid to the Community Ownership Fund, but this required 20% of match funding.

The Executive Member for Financial Sustainability said that East Herts Council had agreed to provide the match funding of £200,000 and write a letter of support for the application. He said the funding was to cover repairs to the pool and to cover the refurbishment of the changing rooms. He said this report was seeking approval to write the letter of support and the decision to provide the match funding would come later.

The Executive Member for Financial Sustainability said that the match funding would be sourced from the existing management charge payment to SLM, and the future costs were already provided in the Medium Term Financial Plan to fund this. He said this was the best way to bring the community asset back into use and the pool would close permanently if the match funding was not agreed.

Councillor Brittain proposed that the recommendations in the report be supported. Councillor Hopewell seconded the proposal.

Councillor E Buckmaster said he could not see any risk to this and wanted to acknowledge the efforts by Councillor Hopewell to move this project forward.

Councillor Bull also congratulated the Executive in pushing this forward and wished the community group every success.

Councillor Dumont commended Councillor Hopewell for trying to find solutions to this issue.

Councillor Hopewell thanked officers for identifying the pot of funding and all the volunteers on the community group.

Councillor Wilson said this was an example of talking with the community and getting difficult points across and listening to concerns of residents.

Councillor Andrews said he was pleased to see this come forward. He said £200,000 was a lot of money to invest in an old facility. He asked if the Executive had investigated building a new facility.

Councillor Hopewell said that the condition survey had said that the structure of the building was in good condition. She said that all information would be made available to the community ownership fund for them to decide whether it was worth investing in.

Councillor Glover-Ward said that a new facility would cost about the same as the Arts Centre in Bishop’s Stortford which had to be cancelled. She said it would not be fair to give money to the Ward Freman pool if not going to the Arts Centre.

The Head of Legal and Democratic Services clarified that the Arts Centre in Bishop’s Stortford had been postponed, not cancelled.

The motion to support the recommendations having been proposed and seconded was put to the meeting and upon a vote being taken, was declared CARRIED.

RESOLVED – That (A) The Executive agree in principle to provide match funding of up to £200,000 to support the Ward Freeman Community Pool Group CIO application to the Government’s Community Ownership Fund; and

(B) The Head of Strategic Finance and Property be authorised to issue a letter of support for the Community Ownership Fund bid setting out the in-principle match funding agreement.

(C) Authorise the Head of Strategic Finance and Property to include in the letter the additional information concerning a publicly owned asset that the application will require.