Decision details

To agree acceptance of £1,529,721 funding support from the National Leisure Recovery Fund (NLRF) to support a number of leisure facilities operated by Sheffield City Trust (SCT) and Places Leisure (PL).

The Covid-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on the facilities’ ability to generate income.  Funding from the NLRF will help to support continued operation of leisure provision in the city.

That, after considering the detail in the report, the Cabinet Member:-

(a) approves acceptance of £1,529,721 of funding support from the National Leisure Recovery Fund;

(b) notes that a report on funding leisure services for the financial year 2021/2022 will be brought for decision soon;

(c) notes that arrangements will be put in place to finalise the funding arrangements and put in place any required monitoring/reporting arrangements; and

(d) delegates authority to the Director of Culture and Environment, in consultation with the Director of Legal and Governance and the Director of Finance and Commercial Services, to take such steps not already delegated as they deem appropriate to achieve the outcomes set out in the report.

The financial support from NLRF will support the Council’s costs relating to the re-opening of the leisure facilities listed in section 1.1 of the report.

The alternative option considered was to fully fund the re-opening of leisure facilities from Council reserves.  This option was not considered to be in the best interest of the Council.