Issue - meetings

The Leisure Manager provided an update to the Committee on the Cobtree Estate. The Committee noted:

·  That turnover and footfall at Kent Life had both increased compared to last year.

·  There had been two break ins at the Café, one in May and one in August, with £7,000 and £5,200 taken respectively. Both of these break ins happened after busy weekends. This issue would be resolved once DAGT had taken over the contract to run the café as they planned to introduce daily cash collections.

·  As a result of the break ins, additional security measures had been introduced including changes to the shutters and safe in the cafe, and additional barriers placed at access points to the park.

In response to a question from the Committee, the Leisure Manager explained that quotes had been received to install a CCTV system in the café. However no results had been received for installing CCTV externally as the requirements depended on the storage that DAGT intended to install on site.

The Committee requested that a further report be brought back for consideration on security at the estate, including the park, car park and café. The report should consider:

·  An assessment of current security arrangements in the park.

·  An assessment of recommended security upgrades and details of their costs.

·  Details of recommended CCTV upgrades, broken down to separate quotes for the different elements of the system (internal, external & car park).

In response to a question from the Committee, the Leisure Manager confirmed that he would request that the Council’s Communications Team run a feature on Cobtree in a future edition of Borough Insight.

The Committee noted the improvements made to the Elephant House, which was where the Men in Sheds project was based. The Committee asked the Leisure Manager to circulate a costed list of improvements to the Elephant House that the Men in Sheds project had requested.

The Committee asked to place on record their appreciation to the staff that worked at Cobtree for their hard work in contributing to the positive reviews received for the Park on Tripadvisor.

RESOLVED:

That the contents of the Cobtree Estate update are noted.