Review of search for community stadium operator (From York Press)

Review of search for York's community stadium operator

8:49am Thursday 12th January 2012 in Community stadium news By Mark Stead, mark.stead@thepress.co.uk

THE search for a firm to run York’s community stadium and other city council-owned leisure facilities is to undergo fresh scrutiny.

Officers at City of York Council have been asked to start looking for a firm to operate the proposed new Monks Cross home for York City FC and York City Knights, which is to set to go before the authority’s planning committee.

But the Liberal Democrat group has called in that decision by Coun Sonja Crisp, cabinet member for leisure, culture and social inclusion, for further discussion.

They claim that “adequate details” have not been made public of the criteria those interested in the contract – incuding social enterprises – must meet. The group has asked for more information to go before the full cabinet.

The council has said a deal to run the stadium and the neighbouring Waterworld pool could also include Energise leisure centre and Yearsley Swimming Pool, designed to cut costs and provide extra investment.

The procurement process would identify a preferred bidder by next January and the contract would start next April.

Lib Dem councillor Nigel Ayre, who submitted the call-in, said: “If we get the criteria wrong, we will end up with the wrong operator and the wrong stadium, which could stand as a decade-long monument to failure. There are glaring omissions in the criteria provided so far – the requirement for a range of facilities, those which are free of charge to residents, and the definition of what Coun Crisp would consider an adequate community facility.

“The make-up and operation of the stadium and the rest of the leisure estate should be part of an open and democratic process, not the result of back-room, closed-door decision-making.”

Coun Crisp said some of York’s leisure centres had “seen better days”.

She said: “We would be doing the city a disservice if we did not look to enhance them, but we can’t stand back and hope they will remodel themselves.

“I will be working with officers to ensure the criteria applied are the right ones, and will also be discussing this with my colleagues to ensure we agree, as a cabinet, the right way forward.

“If this is to be called in by opposition parties, I look forward to explaining my decision and discussing the matter further should it come back to cabinet for our consideration”.

Charlie Croft, the council’s assistant director of lifelong learning and culture, said the authority’s “established procedures” had been followed over the procurement process.

He said: “We will continue to operate transparently and ensure the full criteria, and evaluation of these, will be made public in a timely manner.”