The Leisure Manager presented the committee with an update on the progress of the Sport, Leisure and Active Recreation Strategy. The following key points were highlighted:

·        The Strategy was released in October 2022 at the Sport, Wellbeing and Community network.

·        The core of the sports strategy was to get the inactive residents of Gravesham active. It also outlined the pathways to try and reduce the number of inactive residents within the borough.

·        According to the Sport England Active Live survey, Gravesham was the most inactive borough in Kent, with over 39% of the population participating in less than 30 minutes of exercise per week.

·        The reports detailed the action plan and highlighted some of the projects and initiatives which show the power of sport to not only change fitness but employability.

·        Through the ‘Learn to Swim’ programme, it was acknowledged that some families could not afford to buy swimsuits and towels and GBC assisted in the purchasing of those.

·        On the back of this project, GCLL had taken the participants on board into their own swim programme and that ambition was to offer them lifeguard training (when they were old enough) in order give them job prospects at the end.

·        The female coaching programme aimed to provide women with full coaching qualifications to help them enter into employment. It was a part of a national initiative called project 500 which aimed to address the disparity between the amount of women coaches in sport vs men – only 30% of coaches in sport were women.

·        The summer fun programme involved a huge amount of work and was a fully detailed programme – more information would be shared at the committee meeting in November.

Following questions and comments from members, it was explained that:

·        Section 2.2 - RIBA stages referred to the stages of development of a project from initial design to final completion of build.

·        Some of the children included in the ‘Learn to Swim’ programme had been experiencing bullying and were finding it hard to make friends. The programme had encouraged them to make friends. I was felt that the programme had had a positive impact on their lives.

·        The funding stream currently being looked at for Cascades 2 was LUF 3. The council are waiting to see how this particular round of Government funding was going to be rolled out in the future due to the recent change in Government.

·        Based on the Football Foundation grading, all 20 council owned pitches were graded either adequate or poor.

·        The football season runs from the beginning of September until the end of May and across the 20 pitches, it was estimated that there was over 400 people a week using them. Use was predominantly seen on Sunday’s (both morning and afternoons). The works had enabled them to aerate the ground, so the wear was less intensive during the drier months, and to allowed them to use a higher quality grass seed.

·        Swimming lessons at both Cascades and Cygnets were very popular. Adult swim classes had been held in the past, but there was a stigma around older people who do not have the capacity to swim.

The committee noted the report.