ADD2544 Crystal Palace – Community Leisure Recovery Fund

1.1. The Community Leisure Recovery Fund aimed to support community-run leisure centres in England with £5m of National Lottery investment to assist the reopening and recovery of those services. It was an open fund allocated over a single funding round in April 2021, and covers the period from 1 April to 30 September 2021.

1.2. Together with support provided by GLL, GLAP put in an application to access this fund and in September 2021 was advised that an award of up to £50,000 had been made. This is to assist with the operation of the NSC during such time as a deficit occurred due to a dramatic reduction in income.

2.1. The costs during the COVID-19 pandemic relating to operational costs of the NSC continued to be required despite the income, which would ordinarily contribute towards these, dramatically decreasing. GLAP applied for this fund in order to assist in acquiring support attributed to these costs, as well as assisting in the post-pandemic recovery of the NSC in order to best serve the community.

2.2. The successful award of this fund assists GLAP in covering costs that were expended during COVID-19 and recouping some of the costs associated with same.

3.1. Under section 149 of the Equality Act 2010, the Mayor and GLA are subject to the public sector equality duty and must have due regard to the need to:

• eliminate unlawful discrimination, harassment and victimisation
• advance equality of opportunity between people who share a relevant protected characteristic and those who do not
• foster good relations between people who share a relevant protected characteristic and those who do not.

3.2. The “protected characteristics” are age, disability, gender reassignment, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex, sexual orientation and marriage/ civil partnership status. The duty involves having appropriate regard to these matters as they apply in the circumstances, including having regard to the need to: remove or minimise any disadvantage suffered by those who share or are connected to a protected characteristic; take steps to meet the different needs of such people; encourage them to participate in public life or in any other activity where their participation is disproportionately low. This can involve treating people with a protected characteristic more favourably than those without one.

3.3. Accessibility of the NSC to those on low incomes and a community access focus are at the heart of the operation. One of the main benefits of the NSC has been its accessibility to facilities for the local and surrounding communities. The successful bid for this fund facilitates additional support for the ongoing operation of the NSC to continue its accessibility by those who require it most.

3.4. The grant fund will be used towards operational costs of the NSC. Such operations are undertaken in a way to ensure that the provision of services for people with protected characteristics is promoted within the existing physical built environment of the NSC.

Key risks and issues

4.1. Low risk 1: terms of the Award Agreement are not met

The risk of this occurring is very low given that the expenditure at the NSC has already occurred and in effect the award relates to expenditure already made.

Mitigation for low risk 1: having funds available in the event that terms are not met, and Sport England requires the funds to be returned.

4.2. Low risk 1: Sport England is unable to provide funding

Mitigation: In this event, there will be negative impact on the operation of the NSC, as the expenditure for the period to which the funding relates has already been incurred.

4.3. There is no conflict of interest related to this decision.

5.1. This decision requests approval for the acceptance of an award of £50,000 from the Community Leisure Recovery Fund. The award will be made to GLAP and will help towards reducing the operating deficit caused by the COVID-19 pandemic at the NSC. The Award Agreement states that evidence of actual spend will be provided by the recipient. In this case, due to the nature of the grant, this evidence has been provided in advance.

6.1 The foregoing sections of this report indicate that the decisions requested of the assistant director fall within the statutory powers of the Authority to promote and/or to do anything that is facilitative of, or conducive or incidental to, social development within Greater London; and in formulating the proposals in respect of which a decision is sought, officers have complied with the Authority’s related statutory duties to:

• pay due regard to the principle that there should be equality of opportunity for all people
• consider how the proposals will promote the improvement of health of persons, health inequalities between persons and to contribute towards the achievement of sustainable development in the United Kingdom
• consult with appropriate bodies.

6.2 In taking the decisions requested of him, the assistant director must have due regard to the Public Sector Equality Duty – namely the need to eliminate discrimination, harassment, victimisation and any other conduct prohibited by the Equality Act 2010; to advance equality of opportunity between persons who share a relevant protected characteristic (race, disability, gender, age, sex, sexual orientation, religion or belief, pregnancy and maternity, and gender reassignment) and persons who do not share it; and to foster good relations between persons who share a relevant protected characteristic and persons who do not share it (section 149 of the Equality Act 2010). To this end, the assistant director should have particular regard to section 3 (above) of this report.

Entry into Funding Agreement and Receipt of Funding

6.3 Under the Localism Act 2011, all commercial activities relating to land and property transferred from the London Development Agency to the Authority must be undertaken by a subsidiary company. In the case of the NSC, the relevant subsidiary company is GLAP.

6.4 In accordance with section 13.3 of Mayoral Decision-Making in the Greater London Authority, the authorising of an appropriate GLA decision – in this case an ADD – is sufficient to authorise GLAP’s entry into the written grant agreement with Sport England.

6.5 The up to £50,000 grant from Sport England is subject to conditions set out in written grant agreement to be executed by GLAP and Sport England. In light of this, the

7.1. Actions set out below together with an indication of when GLAP can expect to receive the grant.

• Appendix 1 - Award Agreement