Decisions

Following agreement by the Council, at its meeting on 19th August 2020, to remove Clair Hall from the Leisure Management contract with Places Leisure (PL), this report provides information on the operational and financial issues affecting Clair Hall as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic and seeks a decision to permanently close the facility and commence work on the future regeneration of the site.

(i)          agree to the continued and permanent closure of Clair Hall with immediate effect;

(ii)         agree to establish a temporary public car park at Clair Hall; and

(iii)        request officers to commission work to develop a business case for the inclusion of a modern community facility as part of the future regeneration of this site or other sites in the town centre.

To improve the playing pitch surfaces on two football pitches and one cricket pitch at Clayton Green Recreation Ground in Clayton and one football pitch at London Road Recreation Ground in Hassocks.

Both sites are very popular recreation grounds used by local residents and sports clubs for adult and junior use.

On a number of occasions over recent years training and matches have had to be cancelled as the pitches became waterlogged, which meant the clubs had to find alternative venues at short notice and there has been an associated loss of income for the Council.

Recent pitch inspections carried out by the Sussex County Football Association under their Ground and Natural Turf improvement programme noted that both sites suffered from poor grass coverage across the pitches which leads to bare patches that become waterlogged through the playing season. Both pitches only achieved 55% grass coverage in total and only 40 – 45% of this was with the desirable sports pitch grasses.

The proposed work will help to improve the pitch drainage and reduce cancellations, allowing a greater number of matches to take place on this pitch and reducing pressure on other pitches.

The work will consist of:

·         Top dressing the three football pitches with sports sand

·         Over-seeding the three football pitches with sport pitch rye grass in season to increase grass coverage

·         Scarifying and overseeding the cricket outfield at Clayton Green Recreation Ground

The main benefits of good drainage are:

·         Improvement of the quality, firmness and durability of the turf

·         Quick drying of the soil for extending playing time

·         Improved air movement in the soil

·         Improved root development

·         Better soil structure

·         Higher soil temperature and longer growing season

The Cabinet Member for Environment and Service Delivery authorised release of £8,836.21 from S106 Formal Sport contributions to improve the playing pitch surfaces on two football pitches and one cricket pitch at Clayton Green Recreation Ground in Clayton and one football pitch at London Road Recreation Ground in Hassocks.