Apologies were received from Councillors Bance, McManners and Turner.

Board Members are asked to declare any personal or personal prejudicial interests they may have in any of the following agenda items.  Guidance is contained at the end of these agenda pages.

No declarations of interest were made.

When the chair agrees, questions from the public for up to 15 minutes – these must be about the items for decision at the meeting (excluding the minutes) and must have been given to the Head of Law and Governance by 9.30am two clear working days before the meeting (email executiveboard@oxford.gov.uk or telephone the person named as staff contact).  No supplementary questions or questioning will be permitted.  Questions by the public will be taken as read and, when the Chair agrees, be responded to at the meeting.

Full written questions with answers were distributed at the start of the meeting.

A document from the Head of City Leisure outlining the Council’s position on various claims made in a paper presented to the Full Council meeting on 11 July 2011 by the Save Temple Cowley Pool Group was also distributed at the start of the meeting.

The documents referred to above are appended to the minutes.

Nigel Gibson was given 3 minutes to address the Board. He highlighted various points on why the Save Temple Cowley Pools Group believed the closure of the Temple Cowley Pool was wrong and unjustified.

To recommend the approval of the tender for the construction of a competition standard swimming pool adjoined to Blackbird Leys Leisure Centre.

The Head of City Leisure and Parks submitted a report (previously circulated, now appended) recommending approval of the tender for the construction of a competition standard swimming pool adjoined to Blackbird Leys Leisure Centre.

The Head of City Leisure and Parks gave a presentation to the Board summarising how the proposed pool in Blackbird Leys fitted in with the overall aims and objectives of the City-wide Leisure strategy.

Peter Sloman, Chief Executive, spoke about the detail of the new pool in Blackbird Leys, particularly focusing on cost, affordability and risk to the Council. On the public questions he said that full answers had consistently been given to the questioners and he would not be authorising more officer time to answer questions on the subject in future.

Councillor Coulter, Board Member for Leisure, summed up the reasons why he believed the Board should approve the recommendations in the report. He said that the proposed new pool presented the best opportunity for all residents of the City and that the alternative of keeping Temple Cowley Pool would be too costly and risky to the Council.

Resolved to:-

1)     Approve the construction of the competition standard swimming pool adjoined to Blackbird Leys Leisure Centre and an increase in the contingency provision of £350k to cover risks, in particular; the implications of ground works and the Town Green application; 

2)     Delegate authority to the Executive Director of City Services, in consultation with the Head of Law and Governance, to award the construction contract to Willmott Dixon;

3)     Delegate authority to the Executive Director of City Services to amend the contract with Fusion Lifestyle to include the management of the new competition standard swimming pool, subject to the agreement of satisfactory terms; and

4)     Instruct officers to implement a decommissioning plan for Temple Cowley and Blackbird Leys Pools.

This item is included on the agenda to give members the opportunity to raise issues on the Forward Plan or update the Board about future agenda items.

Nothing was raised under this item.