ConsultationStatement in Support of
Four Lanes Community Junior School MULTI USE Games Area
(Comments in Italic from Chineham Parish Council) Under the terms of a Service Level Agreement between Hampshire County Council (the Local Education Authority), Basingstoke and Deane (community development funding resource) and the JMC (community development service provider), the school premises (including the school grounds) are available for use by the centre and the wider community after 1700hrs and at weekends. Strategic governance for the community centre at Four Lanes Community Junior School is provided by a Joint Management Committee (JMC) rather than by the schools governing body. Martyn Gamble, the school’s head teacher, is responsible for operational management of the community arm of the school and he delegates the day to day running of the facility to his centre manager, Tracy Neilson. This arrangement provides a meeting place within the school premises for the wider community and allows the community arm of the centre to offer activities, including various children’s activities, adult and family classes, holiday clubs and leisure activities. As a community facility, the school grounds traditionally provided an open space area within the Chineham community where people take casual recreation and/or participate in ad-hoc leisure activities because of the lack of green space in Chineham. (The LEA has supported this scheme – meeting 27/6/2011 with School) Background to the multi use games area project (MUGA term used - as this will include basketball / netball using drop in posts provided by JMC – possibly tennis longer term may be considered) This is set out in Sections 1-3 of Appendix 2 to a report prepared by borough council officers which was considered by the Council’s Cabinet Member for Communities, Sport and Leisure in May 2010 (report reference: 47/2010). The borough council is leading the design and implementation of the multi use games area project with input from the JMC, headteacher and centre manager. How does the JMC propose to manage the multi use games facility? The existing games area is managed by the centre manager. Maintenance costs associated with the existing games area are met from the schools educational budget. During the school day, the existing games area is dedicated for educational use by both the junior and infant schools. Outside of school hours and at weekends, it is available on an ad-hoc/casual basis for use by the wider community. No pre-bookings for groups or clubs are currently taken. The centre manager (or a nominated representative) has a presence on the school site Monday to Thursday (4.30pm to 9.30pm) and Friday (3.30pm to 6.00pm). This person acts in a caretaker capacity when rooms or facilities within the school buildings are hired out. This person also currently monitors usage and activities on the existing games area; however, the caretaker role does not extend to managing casual or ad-hoc usage of the facility. It is intended that these established day to day management arrangements continue once the games area enhancements have been implemented. It is further proposed that the community arm would also be responsible for, and fund on-going maintenance to the fabric of the games area. This maintenance would be carried in accordance with manufacturer’s instructions; and whilst this is considered to be minimal, over time there will inevitably be an increased requirement, which will need to be addressed. To facilitate this, it is proposed to fund future maintenance by introducing a booking system whereby clubs or groups will be able to pre-book the games area (for a yet to be determined fee). Possible use of the multi use games area by groups or clubs With the introduction of a booking facility, the centre would have a caretaker presence on site covering the period of all the bookings. The caretaker’s role would be extended to ensure pre-booked groups have access to the games area and that they vacate it at the end of their pre-booked period. Inappropriate behaviour by individuals or groups will not be tolerated and will be dealt with by a ‘one warning and you are out’ arrangement, with future access being denied to the facility to the individual, club or group that cause the nuisance. (The Caretaker role is already in place. At weekends – for a pre booked use – a rota of 3 staff members would cover supervision) Following an initial verbal enquiry, a number of local groups have expressed an interest in hiring a floodlit ball games area; however, with no scheme in place nor a pricing regime confirmed, the centre has not been active in seeking possible paying users. Clearly, if and when a planning consent has been secured for a floodlit games area, the centre will begin actively promoting and marketing the facility. The primary market for the floodlit games area will be locally based groups. Many of these are based within the Chineham community; however, a secondary market might include similar groups based in adjacent communities, many of whom already make use of the Four Lanes Centre and/or other community facilities within Chineham. The likely use by local clubs/groups has been estimated at less than 250 hours per annum, which equates to approximately 4-5 hours per week. Floodlighting So that the games area is available to the community throughout the year, it is proposed to install floodlighting. This approach will: - Allow the community centre to generate income which can be used to offset on-going maintenance costs associated with the whole facility; and,
- Provide a games area that is a true community facility, because it can be used by the wider community throughout the majority of the year.
The floodlighting is to be designed using the latest technology to minimise any light spillage and will be controlled by a series of timers/sensor/switches. Ad-hoc/casual users will be able to switch on the floodlighting system by pressing a button which is to be located nearby. This will provide floodlighting for a set period (say 15 minutes). For pre-booked groups or clubs, the system will be overridden to provide lighting for the period of the booking. It is proposed that the floodlighting will be operational seven days a week, with an evening cut-off time of 2100hrs. It should be noted that an hours of operation condition is likely to be applied to any planning consent; therefore, it is not possible to confirm these hours at this time. This approach compares favourably with similar borough council owned ball games facilities where floodlighting is in operation until 2200hrs, seven days a week. Consultation with users of the school and centre Parents and users were invited to view various plans for refurbishing the existing games area and complete a questionnaire week commencing 28 March 2011 Monday – Friday 3.30pm – 4.30pm 57 questionnaires were returned 18 (32%) supported plans for drawing A 15 (26%) supported plans for drawing B 20 (35%) supported plans for drawing C 4 (7%) supported plans for drawing D Some residents did attend during that week and did meet with Martyn. Martyn also received a letter dated 8 April 2011 asking why local residents had not been invited, Martyn replied explaining that further consultations would be taking place in the near future. (A petition, currently signed by approximately 250 Chineham Residents supporting this proposal, is in circulation.)
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