26/10/2018
Posts from Cllr David MacDonalds Facebook Page -

Alison Macaulay They seem to have ruled out Eastwood Park in these papers, but are telling the paper that they are still conducting a thorough review of this option? So what's going on here??

Cllr David Macdonald. - Independent Alison Macaulay The same old smoke and mirrors nonsense.

Ben Procter David you’re being as disingenuous as Carlaw and Masterton.

The so called ‘preferred site’ is part of a consultants report - which the council are not bound to follow.

The report recommendation is:

That the Director of Environment will now undertake the master planning of Eastwood Park and this will specifically explore the feasibility of a new build leisure centre within Eastwood Park based upon the latest information on Council property options for schools and office accommodation; and

(d) That the Director of Environment will report to Council with an options appraisal for the future provision of leisure facilities in the Eastwood area once this work has been completed.

Full papers can be found here:
www.eastrenfrewshire.gov.uk/CHttpHandler.ashx...

Cllr David Macdonald. - Independent Ben....you are one of the "leading lights" at East Renfrewshire Labour Party and also an East Renfrewshire Council Employee.

It should be made clear to people just so they know you are someone associated with the council.

Beyond that......If you believe any of this then you are very naive Ben.

Clearly you were not there at the September meeting when Eastwood Park was not even on the radar and only when the Director of Environment was pressed multiple times by a few councillors on the opposition side did he relent to agree to add it .

Do your homework sir.

Graham Stewart According to the MPs, shawwood has been given the go ahead?

Cllr David Macdonald. - Independent I think there is a certain amount of calling the council's out on this.

But I think we can all deduce from the paid consultation and the fact that their "findings" have found the only 3 viable options to be Shawwood, Broomburn or Overlee that it is clear that is now where this site is going to be.

This was NEVER going to be at Eastwood.

Why?

Because you will find that St Ninian's HS will expand into what is there now and most likely the pool will become part of the HS.

But they added it as one of the options to create an illusion that it was being considered.

Lip service at best.

I don't buy it.

Not many others are buying it either.

More extracts from report -

23.Eastwood Park was specifically ruled out at that time by the consultants for the following reasons:

Strengths

• Already established site, residents are familiar with the location of the service provision

•Remains with the current Carmichael Hall and Eastwood Theatre.

Weaknesses

•Access to the site is already very congested at peak times due to the over development of the park

•The proposed brief of the new build facility will have a significant impact on the existing facilities due to the footprint

•Eastwood Park is already over developed

Opportunities

•Opportunities to collaborate with St. Ninians as schools collaboration has been identified as a growth area in Sport by APSE (2016).

Threats (Constraints)

•St. Ninians requires further expansion / new build facility in this location, there is not enough space for both facilities

•For the new build facility to be in this location, it is reliant on the Council HQ not being in Eastwood Park (per the recommendations of the 2017 Accommodation Review)

•The current leisure centre could not remain open during the construction period as the land would be needed for the new build facility


24.In the report the consultants stated “an in-depth analysis of this site was undertaken to determine the various options for the Eastwood Leisure Facility to remain here.

The analysis highlighted that although there are options available to keep Eastwood Leisure Centre here, it may not be the most effective use of the site in respect of the need for demolition and the consequential detrimental impact on service provision during the development of the new build facility.

The key considerations that came out of the appraisal process highlights that Eastwood Leisure Centre remaining on this site would result in:

•In order to build the new facility at Eastwood Park, the currently facility would require to be demolished. This would have an enormous impact on the Eastwood Park site, management of construction and site, traffic management, health & safety and the inevitable impact on St Ninians during exam times. Furthermore, the associated cost and impact of demolition and construction on a multi-use site would greatly increase risk to the Council throughout the project life cycle

•The Trust and Eastwood Leisure Centre / Theatre / Carmichael Hall users would incur a detrimental loss of service. This is due to the need to demolish the current facilityin order to allow for the development of the new build facility on the same site, as there is no other land available to develop a facility of this scale in Eastwood Park

•There is hard evidence to show that once people are deprived of a facility, many do not return as they will have made alternative arrangements during the period of closure

•As a result of the loss of service, the Trust will incur a dramatic loss of revenue

•Health and Safety; one of the Council’s key concerns on this site is level of traffic and congestion at peak times. The new build Eastwood Leisure Facility would only increase this as it is of a larger scale than the current facility and will attract an increase in attendance

•In 2017 the Council commissioned a strategic review of their key properties and office accommodation across the area. This review provided a number of
recommendations for the future of the Councils office accommodation which would require ERC Eastwood HQ to be reviewed. These recommendations would need to be considered as part of a full masterplan of the Eastwood Park Campus

•The land that becomes available if Eastwood Leisure Centre was on a new site would allow the Council more flexibility when considering future options for St Ninians as the school is currently at capacity. The available land means that ERC can consider expansion options for the school, and also explore the opportunity to turn Eastwood Park into a learning and innovation campus. This is in line with ERC’s Education Department’s future ambitions for the school programme in East Renfrewshire"

25. More recently with regard to Overlee the Council has continued to develop proposals with regard to Early Years provision on the site.

The site is covered by a King George V designation which restricts development potential.

Following initial discussions with Fields in Trust it is felt that at best the site could accommodate a family centre/small sports and
community facility and not an 8000 m² (GIA) leisure centre with associated external pitches and parking.

26. The site options appraisal carried out by the consultants and referred to in their report identifies Shawwood as the preferred site for the new build Eastwood Leisure Centre.

The consultant’s report has concluded that the site is one of the most suitable options for the new Eastwood Leisure Centre.

In terms of ground conditions it has minimal issues, risks and
threats to development.

There are no existing facilities on this site that would be impacted.

Due to its location it presents opportunities to stimulate regeneration in the local area and potentially drive increased footfall to the local shops.

The site is in close proximity to Broomburn which had a 72% option appraisal score.

Should there be any unidentified issues with Shawwood the consultants advise that it would be possible to develop the new facility at Broomburn and still achieve the same benefits.

27. The consultants have highlighted 2 options.

The 1st option is for the originally agreed full specification with an estimated cost now of approximately £30.564 million.

28. They have also produced a reduced specification
option but have cautioned that despite the choice of prioritisation by the Council a reduced facility has the potential to have a significant impact on future income projections.

The cost for this reduced option is estimated at £25.557 million.

29. This section again highlights the choices with regard to theatre provision.

The options are to try to design a flexible theatre space into the new facility using bleacher seating or alternatively to design a dedicated theatre space as part of the new build.

In the latter option space would not be shared with other facilities/users in the new leisure centre.

This is likely to cost in the region of an additional £ 3.25 –4 million.

30. There could be the establishment of several new facilities and opportunities in a new build which would open up new revenue streams for the Trust.

Masterplanning of Eastwood Park

31. In the December 2017 report to Cabinet the final recommendation was that a masterplan with options for Eastwood Park in the future be prepared (in due course).

32.Whilst the feasibility work regarding a leisure centre was underway the Council agreed to analyse the situation with regard to sufficiency of places in education establishments as a result of ongoing pressures and the potential impact of LDP 2.

The initial analysis shows that in the longer term it is likely that a second denominational secondary school will be required in the Eastwood area.

If this is taken forward then there may be less pressure on the Eastwood Park campus.

33.As stated in the consultant’s recent report (attached) work has been ongoing to review the office accommodation requirements of the Council.

This work is at an early stage and is programmed to be taken forward in more detail in the next financial year.

However, the work shows that it may be possible to reduce the number of office buildings (in line with the Council’s property asset management plan) with the Eastwood HQ one of the buildings under consideration for demolition given its age and condition.

Further work would be required to identify a suitable Civic Headquarter in the Eastwood area for the Council.

34.In particular the Education review has the potential to reduce the scale of development in Eastwood Park and therefore a further analysis and options for the potential for a new build leisure centre on the park should be undertaken.

35.At this stage it is not possible to say whether the development of a second denominational school in the Eastwood area and the demolition of HQ will go ahead and ifso when.

However, it is prudent to analyse all the options for the new leisure centre as part of the masterplanning of Eastwood Park.

CONCLUSION

36.In conclusion it is proposed therefore to proceed with a fresh look using different consultants at the options for a new build leisure centre in Eastwood Park and a wider masterplanning exercise
for the Eastwood campus.

Non Domestic Rates

37. The Barclay review of Non-Domestic Rates and resultant recommendations may have implications for any expanded and/or new build facility.

The Scottish Government have advised that they do not intend to change charity relief or sports club relief eligibility for
Council ALEOs.

However, they have advised that in light of concerns regarding the
continued expansion of the ALEO approach they will offset further relief benefit to councils to mitigate against future ALEO expansion.

The Scottish Government is continuing to work with COSLA with regard to implementation of this matter.