10 - Development of Tennis in Renfrewshire Parks FINAL
Renfrewshire Council · 14 June 2023
Back to Leadership Board — 14 June 2023 and its agenda
Text extracted from the council's PDF. Layout and reading order may differ from the original.
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______________________________________________________________________ To: Leadership Board On: 15 June 2023 ______________________________________________________________________ Report by: Director of Environment, Housing & Infrastructure ______________________________________________________________________ Heading: Development of Tennis in Renfrewshire Parks ______________________________________________________________________ 1. Summary 1.1 A report was approved by the Leadership Board on 26 April 2023 relative to the refurbishment of tennis courts and the development of tennis in up to three Renfrewshire parks/sites, namely Robertson Park, Renfrew, Brodie Park, Paisley and Park Road, Johnstone. 1.2 The Lawn Tennis Association, following on from the Council’s formal approval of support at the April Leadership board, have now confirmed that they will offer Renfrewshire Council grant funding to refurbish the courts and develop tennis at all 3 locations in Renfrewshire, with the funding awards set out in the table below: Site Location Grant Funding Offered Robertson Park, Renfrew £129,960 Brodie Park, Paisley £18,090 Park Road, Johnstone £155,500 (excluding Council contribution) 1.3 The Park Road in Johnstone site was in the second tranche for funding and has only recently been surveyed. The offer at Park Road Johnstone is subject to the Council making a contribution of £17,000 towards the project, along with funding the repairs to a retaining wall. Estimates for the repair of the wall are being sought
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and at this point a figure of up to £20,000 has been quoted. The LTA whilst approving stage 2 is still considering the offer of a contribution towards the works and is awaiting confirmation that a coach will be available for Johnstone. 1.4 The financial modelling work has been completed based on the operating model for the Courts, as set out in Appendix 1 of the report. The revenue and future capital costs have been determined following agreement on the operating model across the 3 locations being offered grant funding by the LTA. 1.5 As set out in Appendix 1 the courts will have three play options. Free play, occasional booking charges and annual membership fees. The membership fee will be £100 for an adult for annual membership and £50 for a junior membership (under 18). The cost of booking a court at chargeable times will be £8.50 per hour. Note a membership will give access to the courts with no hourly fee attached. The charging policy will be regularly reviewed and the formal agreement with OneRen will have a mechanism in place to facilitate this. 1.6 The annual recurring net revenue costs are estimated at £15,960 per annum. The net revenue costs are based on income estimates and as such may increase or decrease depending on uptake of memberships and court usage. Any shortfall in funding will be managed within the overall budget allocation of Environment, Housing & Infrastructure. 1.7 The LTA grant offer requires the Council to create a capital sink fund of £1,200 per court per year to pay the capital outlay of replacing the courts in future years which will be £14,400 per annum for up to 15 years. (If the courts are refurbished any time after the initial 10-year period the agreement with LTA ends at the point of refurbishment). The capital fund will be built up on an annual basis with the funds being transferred to the capital investment fund each financial year for the lifetime of the project. 1.8 The courts at Robertson Park, Renfrew and Park Road Johnstone will have red blaes courts replaced with a tarmac surface which will secure good playing surfaces for tennis for 20 to 30 years under the agreement with the LTA. Brodie Park already has a tarmac surface that will have minor repairs carried out on it. 1.9 For circa 25 weeks (April to October) from 4:00pm until 6:00pm Monday – Thursday OneRen will provide on demand free coaching to local school children as part of our Active Schools programme. From 6:00pm courts would be available to the public, community clubs and to tennis coaches to provide paid for coaching. 1.10 The proposed Heads of Terms with OneRen in relation to this project has been attached as Appendix 1. ___________________________________________________________________
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2. Recommendations It is recommended that the Leadership Board: 2.1 Approve the proposed Heads of Terms between the Council and OneRen attached as Appendix 1. 2.2 Notes and approves the ongoing revenue and capital funding implications and the associated membership and court booking charges as detailed in section 1 of the report. 2.3 Note that a report will be presented to the OneRen Board to formally approval the Heads of Terms Agreement with the Council on 15 June 2023. ___________________________________________________________ 3. Background 3.1 The report of 26 April 2023 intimated that in October 2021 the UK Government and the Lawn Tennis Association (LTA) announced an investment into public park tennis courts for local communities. The Government was investing £22 million together with a committed spend from the LTA of £8.5 million. 3.2 The report outlined that the Council was working with the LTA in partnership with OneRen to submit a formal bid for funding to refurbish tennis courts in up to three sites within Renfrewshire's estate, namely Robertson Park, Renfrew: Brodie Park, Paisley and Park Road, Johnstone. 3.3 The report noted that the LTA had advised that Robertson Park and Brodie Park had been prioritised for initial funding and that Park Road, Johnstone would be added if funds became available. As part of the grant funding agreement the LTA required that an approved court booking system was introduced to support the effective use of any refurbished court and that work was undertaken to develop tennis within the Council area and the report proposed that, should the grant offer be accepted, OneRen would lead on booking, coaching programmes, and sports development arrangements. 3.4 It was also noted that a formal legal agreement with OneRen required to be approved to ensure due diligence with the contract terms and conditions associated with the grant. 3.5 In order to allow appropriate governance and oversight of this project and to enable the Council to proceed with formulating a legal agreement with OneRen there was a requirement to authorise delegated authority to the Director of Environment, Housing & Infrastructure to allow the matter to be progressed. This was approved at the Leadership Board of 26 April 2023. 3.6 This project is being supported by the Council’s Legal & Democratic Services who have provided advice and have assisted in drawing up the Heads of Terms attached for approval in Appendix 1. If the Heads of Terms are approved by both
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the Council and OneRen, the Transfer Agreement and Supplemental Agreement will be entered prior to the transfer of the tennis courts. ______________________________________________________________________ Implications of the Report 1. Financial –The ongoing revenue and capital implications have been detailed in section one of the report. These financial implications will be met from existing capital and revenue budgets held by the Council. 2. HR & Organisational Development- none 3. Community/Council Planning – • Our Renfrewshire is well – Improved access to sports facilities will improve health of participants. • Reshaping our place, our economy, and our future – Improvements to our assets and protecting them for future use. • Tackling inequality, ensuring opportunities for all - Free access to sports will be available to residents at designated times along with coaching for young people. • Working together to improve outcomes – Working in partnership with LTA and OneRen will improve access to this sport. 4. Legal – This project is being supported by the Council’s Legal & Democratic Services who have provided advice, confirmed the approach, and will prepare the legal documents required to ensure the Council’s interests are protected throughout this process. The Heads of Terms have been included in Appendix 1. 5. Property/Assets – There will be a significant improved impact on the assets that are refurbished. 6. Information Technology- OneRen will be required to sign up to the national booking system used by LTA. 7. Equality & Human Rights (a) The Recommendations contained within this report have been assessed in relation to their impact on equalities and human rights. No negative impacts on equality groups or potential for infringement of individuals’ human rights have been identified arising from the recommendations contained in the report. If required following implementation, the actual impact of the recommendations and the mitigating actions will be reviewed and monitored, and the results of the assessment will be published on the Council’s website. 8. Health & Safety- none
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9. Procurement – The Council will be using frameworks established by the LTA to procure refurbishments and gate infrastructure to facilitate the booking scheme. 10. Risk – There is a risk that the funding allocated from the LTA could be recovered if the terms and conditions of the award are not met. This will be mitigated by a legal agreement with OneRen and enhanced documented specification of maintenance from Environment, Housing & Infrastructure. 11. Privacy Impact - none 12. Cosla Policy Position- none ____________________________________________________________ List of Background Papers (a) Background Paper- A paper was submitted to Leadership Board on 26 April 2023 (b) Appendix 1- Heads of Terms with OneRen ______________________________________________________________________ Author: Karen Anderson, Sustainability, Place & Assets Manager
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Appendix 1 Key Heads of Terms The following Heads of Terms will be signed by both Renfrewshire Council and OneRen. 1. Proposed sites. It is proposed that the following tennis court sites are included in the transfer agreement: Robertson Park, Renfrew Brodie Park, Paisley Park Road, Johnstone 2. Transfer Agreement There will be a further Transfer Agreement and Supplemental Agreement with OneRen and these will align with existing arrangements. 3. Lease/Licence to Occupy OneRen will be granted leases or licences to occupy the sites on similar terms to existing leases in the Property Portfolio. 4. Date of Transfer The Council will procure the refurbishment of the tennis courts listed above, including the gate access equipment, from the frameworks provided by the Lawn Tennis Association. When the works are completed, the Council can claim the agreed refurbishment costs. The transfer of the assets to OneRen will not take place until the refurbishment works are completed. 5. Specification of the Services OneRen are to provide OneRen shall appointed as the designated entity acting on behalf of The Council as an Operator to manage the courts and any associated tennis facilities and will appoint independent coaches approved by LTA Operations to assist with the coaching provision required. Ensure all your tennis venues, courts and activities are promoted on and accessible through LTA Play online booking using Clubspark (or any future LTA Operations- approved alternative booking system or aggregator). Booking access to be available through the LTA website and booking app. OneRen will ensure that their website is updated to include a tennis page, providing further information / booking instructions.
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All parks containing courts are to be attached to a Local Tennis League and OneRen shall notify Local Tennis League participants and users of your other sporting facilities (together “potential users”) before each launch accordingly (subject in each case to OneRen having an appropriate marketing consent, and details of such launch date), including providing each potential user with the option to make the necessary consent to receive marketing and promotional materials from the LTA via e-mail. For all parks identified and categorised for free tennis, OneRen commit to working with LTA Operations to deliver a free tennis offer either through an Operator or a charity like Tennis for Free. OneRen shall support the launch of all Sites following Completion of any Individual Site-Specific Works and thereafter may display promotional material relating to the LTA’s national tennis campaigns and promotions to increase opportunities to drive tennis participation. OneRen shall display signage which promotes how players can access the courts and (in a form agreed with us in advance) recognises DCMS and LTA Tennis Foundation as project funders. A charging model will be required to help develop resources that can be re-invested into on-going maintenance and repairs and future court refurbishments. Using the features of Clubspark, charging can be flexible to include coaching, season ticket, be venue specific or court time specific to contribute to on-going costs/replacement. A charging model will be agreed jointly between OneRen and the Council. Operating Model- Free tennis will be provided between 9-4 Mon/Fri. Chargeable tennis from 4 - 8 pm Mon/Fri and all-day Sat/Sun. Income generated will contribute to unplanned maintenance and the sinking funding for capital replacement of the tennis courts. The operating model will be subject to change following regular reviews to ensure the project’s sustainability. The final agreement will include a mechanism for these reviews. 6. Maintenance Arrangements The Council will be responsible for the regular maintenance of the Courts including planned and unplanned maintenance works. The Council will enter into a maintenance agreement with the gate access control supplier. 7. Financial Arrangements The financial arrangements for this project are outlined in the attached board paper.