Agenda item

To consider a presentation about the Council’s progress as it develops its buildings and services to provide and deliver healthier outcomes for the residents of Cheshire East.

The Committee received a presentation on the development of leisure and healthy lifestyle opportunities in Cheshire East. Mark Wheelton, Commissioning Manager for Leisure, introduced the presentation by explaining how plans for the development of leisure services would contribute to the Council’s strategic outcome 5 “people live well and for longer”.

Dan McCabe, Resource Manager for Care4CE, provided an overview of lifestyle groups currently being provided in Wilmslow and Macclesfield leisure centres for people with learning difficulties (LD). The day service for adults with LD had started two years ago and developed into a successful and valuable group for users and their families. Utilising the leisure centres as a based, and using some of the facilities in its activities, the groups had helped adults with LD to develop skills and build their confidence enabling them to become more independent, improve their health and wellbeing, and find employment opportunities. The groups collaborated with many partners in health and social care such as signposting users and setting up specific appointments with other services in a convenient location.

Steve Cottle, Project Manager, provided a walk through presentation of the new Crewe Lifestyle Centre which was currently being built. The 3D design software allowed the Committee to see how the Lifestyle Centre would look once it was completed and how adult social care and children services would be integrated into the building enabling them to work closer together and benefit from the leisure facilities on site to better meet the needs of their service users. The building was designed to be adaptable making it a versatile facility for a variety of services to use and was easily accessible for all users. It was suggested that the Committee might hold a future meeting at the Lifestyle Centre once it was completed to promote the concept for other parts of the Borough and enable members to see how the centre works in more detail.

Rob Rogers, Project Manager, explained the latest position in relation to the development of lifestyle services in Congleton. Plans for Congleton were in a formative stage and consultation with local people was taking place to establish what they wanted. The current site of the leisure centre was not adequate for a full lifestyle offer similar to Crewe however it did incorporate outdoor leisure facilities and its was considered important to maintain these. Feedback from residents was that they would like to see refurbishments made to the current leisure centre including replacement of the swimming pool and changing facilities. It had also been established that the local adult social care services in Congleton were happy with their current locations and not interested in being part of a lifestyle centre offer. Mark Wheelton requested that the Committee appoint a local member of the Committee to be a champion for lifestyle in Congleton to assist in the development of the project. It was noted that elections where due to take place in May 2015 and it would not be appropriate to appoint a champion at this stage.

RESOLVED – That the presentation be noted.