Agenda item

The Superintendent introduced a report of Fees and Charges, noting that it had been drafted following work with the Sports Advisory Forum. He added that Richard Sumray had been instrumental in helping to formulate the overarching charging policy. The Superintendent concluded by saying it was critical the City of London moved away from a static charging policy and instead targeted the policy to encourage participation in Heath activities.

Richard Sumray added that it was important, now a policy had been drafted, to consider how it would be applied in practice. He noted that it could be further developed by looking at case studies of best-practice at other sites and facilities so that City of London charges could be compared and amended accordingly. He concluded by noting that work on the charging policy had been affected by City of London staff-time being taken up with the Ponds Project.

Ian Harrison noted that the reference to croquet in appendix 3 should refer to a croquet lawn not croquet rink.

John Weston noted that, of the Adult pricing for the Lido, one should refer to Adult Concessions.

Simon Taylor requested pricing and information on booking facilities like changing rooms on match days be made clearer, and moreover that charging at the Parliament Hill Athletics Track be frozen for a year a gesture of goodwill following the issues faced by users of the track in terms of inadequate showers. Lastly, he suggests a chip and pin facility be installed at the track to increase convenience for customers. The Chairman said he would pass the comment concerning Athletics Track charging on to the Management Committee.

In response to remarks by Steve Ripley and Michael Hammerson over the amount of surplus generated by charging at some facilities, the Superintendent replied that seasonal income was an issue that the City of London would need to give some thought to. The Director of Open Spaces agreed, noting that ideally surplus would be banked and invested in the same site in which it had been generated, but unfortunately current City of London audit processes did not permit this.