Agenda item

Splash Leisure Centre Project Update Briefing - October 2019

To receive a briefing on the progress of the Splash Leisure Centre Project.

Minutes:

Cllr V Gay (PH for Culture & Well-Being) introduced the briefing and informed Members that the briefing had been requested following a recommendation at Council for the O&S Committee to provide additional monitoring of the SLC project after £2m of additional funding was approved.

 

Questions and Discussion

 

Cllr V Gay stated that whilst the budget position on the project remained unchanged, all Members had a responsibility to continue to monitor the project. It was confirmed that the remaining sum of the Sport England grant should be delivered by November.

 

Cllr V Gay informed Members that risks associated with the project were ranked on a scale of 1-16k, calculated by multiplying the impact by the likelihood, and that at present, there were only medium risks ranging from 2-4k.

 

Communications of the project was discussed, and the Committee were reminded of the SLC event held in September to introduce new Members to the project. It was confirmed that the HECD had also attended a meeting of Sheringham Town Council to update them on the project.

 

The Committee agreed, in response to a question from Cllr V Gay, that the update was useful for Members to keep track and monitor the progress of the SLC project. The Chairman stated that all Councillors had a duty to help monitor the project, and added that Members must remain vigilant. He then asked whether the Committee wished to continue receiving monthly updates in the same format or consider alternate arrangements. Cllr N Housden suggested that it would be helpful to see actual spend alongside the budget, including details of any cost overruns with concerns highlighted in red. Cllr V Gay replied that the budget monitoring of the project had been included in the Report to Council, but agreed that it could be useful in the updates. The HECD stated that the budget would not change unless either significant problems were encountered or changes to the design were requested. He added that cash-flow monitoring was not necessarily needed, but agreed that it could be useful to see quarterly budget updates.

 

Cllr N Pearce expressed his appreciation of the Committee’s role in increased monitoring of the project, and suggested that the same level of scrutiny should have been applied from the start. He added that there were still many potential risks within the project, and that the Committee must therefore continue to monitor its progress.

 

The Chairman stated that a budget profile should be included in updates, as opposed to cash flow information. The HECD agreed and added that new governance arrangements had been set in place to closely monitor the budget.

 

Cllr J Rest reminded Committee Members that as Chairman of GRAC, he had requested that the Internal Audit Team undertake a review of the project that would include an explanation for the overspend. It was expected that the Report would be presented to the December GRAC meeting.

 

The Committee agreed that the SLC updates should continue at their current frequency until the Committee was satisfied that the project no longer presented a significant risk to the Council.

 

Cllr N Housden proposed that a budget profile be provided quarterly as part of the SLC project updates, and Cllr N Pearce seconded the proposal.

 

RESOLVED

 

For a budget profile to be provided quarterly as part of the SLC project updates.

 

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