Agenda item

The Panel received a report on the current leisure offer to young people in Slough which highlighted why it was considered to be a top priority.

The Leisure Services Manager introduced the report, stating that Slough had some of the lowest activity rates in the country together with a high prevalence of obesity. She outlined the programme to rebuild and upgrade its core leisure facilities as part of its five year leisure strategy. Particular mention was made of Arbour Park Community Sports Stadium, Slough Ice Arena, Salt Hill Activity Centre and The Centre and Langley Leisure Centre. The new leisure provider’s emphasis on an outreach programme was noted, in particular the numbers attending their swimming programme were very good with numbers increasing by about a third. The next step was to drill down data on service users to postcode level.

The Panel received a presentation on the wider health implications of exercise and were advised that a press release had been circulated. A Member reported that councillor interaction with residents indicated that affordability was an issue. In response, the officers advised that 30% of the programme of activity was free as were parks and open spaces, including green gyms. Benchmarking indicated that Slough’s leisure centres were some of the cheapest, particularly those with contracts which included swimming and gyms. In 2008 swimming was made free for under 16s and over 60s but there was no impact on the number of people participating in swimming. Reference was made to a study in the Midlands which had initially indicated that making all facilities free had shown participation to increase but further detail had revealed a sharp decline in private gym attendance.

In response to a Member’s questions the Panel was informed that:

·  information would be circulated as to whether concessions included university students

·  the Leisure Services Manger would be holding a session for Head Teachers and Heads of PE;

·  a lot of schools offered facilities to communities outside school hours and during school vacations;

·  funding had been secured for the next 3 years to work with some of the most inactive people. The initiative would concentrate on Chalvey ward and would include a target to work with 30 families to get them more active. These families would be identified in conjunction with the Children’s Trust and schools;

·  the high rates of asthma in Slough were due to a range of issues including health inequalities, links to air pollution predominately from diesel cars, and higher rates of smoking than the national average. It was important to understand how this condition could be managed to avoid hospital admission.

In response to a question as to the leisure offering of involvement in sport in relation to knife crime, the Panel was advised of meetings to look at issues happening overnight in order to stop escalation, examine thematic issues and the short, medium and long term offer. The violence task force set up by the

Chief Executive would be meeting for the third time the following month.

Resolved – That the report be noted.