Introduction and Outcome

Strategic Leisure’s third successful transfer of a Best Value leisure management partnership in 2007 has been delivered in West Berkshire. The transfer of the Council’s leisure facilities to Parkwood Leisure is for a period of up to 15 years and includes all of the Council’s sport and leisure centres. The Council will benefit from significant revenue savings in excess of £500k per annum or £5m over 10 years, investment in the facilities £1.3m, one partner to manage all of the Council’s facilities and a clear strategic direction for the service for the longer term. This level of saving gives the Council the flexibility to fund through prudential borrowing, other capital projects that will enhance the service to the local community.

Background

West Berkshire is located on the edge of the Thames Valley Region, to the west of Reading and has a population of approximately 144,000. The Council owns and operates eight leisure facilities and services through a ‘mixed economy’ of providers (in house and private sector operators).

The Council’s ‘options analysis concluded that for the service to generate investment, to develop and to be sustainable, and to provide a coordinated seamless service the Council needed to enter into a strategic partnership with one operator. The Council’s main priority for the partnership was to improve the revenue position for the service, realise investment in the facilities and to improve in customer satisfaction. In addition the Council had an aspiration to develop in the east of the District, a new learning campus - secondary, primary and special schools plus a range of community facilities including a new dual use wet/dry leisure centre. The new partner will undertake a fundamental role in delivering this aspiration.

Strategic Leisure’s Approach

This complex project was completed to strict deadlines as there were a number of various contracts coming to an end with the three existing external providers.

Strategic Leisure’s role was to lead and project manage the procurement process advising on strategic, leisure and procurement issues from advertising for expressions of interest through to evaluating all submissions and recommending a preferred partner. The complexities were varied as bringing the service from four providers to one required the experience, knowledge, flexibility and sensitivity of the leading leisure consultancy in order to deliver a successful project.

The procurement process followed traditional lines but utilised the negotiated procedure to clearly establish the optimum result. Strategic Leisure’s Best Value Procurement Framework ensured a successful project. This approach is tried and tested and has successfully delivered in excess of 30 best value procurement projects in the last 5 years more than any other consultancy. The approach is based on the principles of best value and best practice (TaES), has been developed specifically for the sport and leisure market and reflects the specific outcomes for each individual local authority.