Downham Lifestyles Project
Downham is quite nice, but Ladywell is better
Yom's Log:First field report from a Downham blogger/swimmer. ...read more...
"About 11 years ago, the local swimming pool closed down. Last week, after many delays and unkept promises, a new leisure centre finally opened.Gave it a go this morning. It's quite nice, though with some disappointments: the main pool is quite small (25m), and not very deep - my toes just touch the bottom at the deep end. Diving is forbidden, which spoils half the fun of swimming. So the pool at Ladywell (which they're stupidly proposing to demolish and rebuild elsewhere) is still rather better. Tch." (continues)
Lots of money in the deep end
"...With an increasing number of pools under threat of closure, local authorities should start considering viable, alternative means of providing swimming and leisure facilities instead of closing them down. Leisure Connection has a range of solutions, which can ensure local swimming pools and centres are improved and maintained for the good of the local community and within affordability levels set by the public finances", says Graham Farrant, chief executive of Leisure Connection and himself a former local authority CEO (Barking and Dagenham).
Speaking in response to Duncan Goodhew's warning that public swimming pools are being closed at an alarming rate in a desperate plea to save money, Farrant believes that Private Finance Initiatives (PFIs), Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) and outsourcing the management of leisure services, is the only solution to this row...
...PFI and PPP projects enable councils to provide and offer a brand new first class leisure and sporting facility to their local communities with affordable access. The centres enable councils to surpass the needs of their local community, giving their residents the opportunity to enjoy the benefits associated with investing in leisure. By working in partnership with Leisure Connection and our consortium will enable authorities the opportunity to focus their attention and resource elsewhere - taking advantage of the synergy effect - 2 + 2 = 5!..."
This piece of advice for accountants willing to waste public money comes from Leisure Connection.
The controversial leisure provider that after some considerable trouble signed a handsome £70 million contract with Lewisham Council for the Downham Lifestyle Centre has just got itself a new PR company and the guys at Leedex are already showing what they are made of in this fine example of corporate press release.
This little gem from Leedex's own website gives us a clue about their core values:
"What single piece of advice would you have for anyone considering a career in PR?
Be eager enough to sell your own mother..."
Unfortunately, the experience of users of Leisure Connection run facilities is not always as spotless as that suggested by Leedex.
One user of a centre managed by Leisure Connection was so unhappy about the dismal standards of service at his local swimming pool that he started collecting information about the mismanagement of the sport centres run by the same company and put them all on a dedicated website entitled Leisure Connection Watch.
He has now collated all this information into an easy to read dossier "to help councils to look harder and longer before awarding leisure contracts".
Download the dossier on Leisure Connection's past performance (Word or Pdf - internal links not working on pdf).
As the press release specifies, "we have a proven track record". ...read more...
Consultant's report on Downham delays delivered to Mayor
"...PFI procurement is a very stressful process, and almost everyone involved fails at some point to maintain a calm, rational, and professional approach. Indeed, I have even known several people who have become ill as a result of the stress involved. Moreover, many difficult issues have to be faced, and painful things often have to be said during the course of negotiations. What is important is that everyone is able to recover from this and move on..."
The above is probably the literary pearl contained in the report commissioned by London Borough of Lewisham (LBL) about the problems encountered during the negotiations of the Downham PFI.
It will be discussed at Mayor and Cabinet this coming Wednesday.
You can read the full report here.
In the report the consultant hired to summarize the reasons for the delays in the project gives a picture of the 'partners' busy at blaming each other for a number of unprofessional behaviours.
In a nutshell:
- the Council blames the preferred bidder Linteum/Leisure Connection consortium of being not much more than a one man band and how this led to a bottle-neck in negotiations;
- the Consultant expresses concern as to why the Council awarded the contract to the bidder without negotiating better terms at that stage, when negotiating power for the Council is at its highest;
- the Consortium blames the Council for a lack of focus during the procurement process;
- the other partner, Primary Care Trust (PCT) "accept that they were under-resourced to deal with the project, and they also suggest that LBL suffered from similar difficulties".
Also, PCT say that "they feel that they were not in a position to influence the selection of the preferred bidder, and that LBL focussed too much on affordability"
The report makes also some other comments rather critical of Lewisham Council's handling of the project.
Here's a selection of passages:
"...LBL had no consistent senior management presence focussing on the project, in the role of "project director" or "sponsor". The Head of Culture was involved at the beginning, but did not maintain and ongoing personal representation in the negotiation phase..."
"...LBL had no consistent involvement of a financial or accounting officer in the project team..."
"...there may have been insufficient detailed involvement of key members in the decision-making and project governance arrangements..."
This last comment seems to suggest that the Mayor of Lewisham Steve Bullock and the Cabinet Member for Culture Cllr Alyson McGarrigle were rather absent from the process that they were so often expressing both enthusiasm for and frustration for the delays. ...read more...
Consultants consulted over consultants' delays
The construction of the Downham Lifestyle Centre is now finally underway, but when in 1995 Downham Pool closed nobody would have imagined that it would have taken 10 years before works for the replacement would start.
The last leg of delays is surely one that many people find most disturbing as its reason remains hidden behind a cloud of commercially sensitive and confidential secrets.
What is not a secret is that for two and a half years the project couldn't get started as the consultants hired by the Council were busy trying to agree among themselves at a cost to the public of £ 1 million.
This consultants' work delivered a further £ 1.2 million increase in the cost of the project.
At the Full Council Meeting held last September, just after the final agreement on the contract was sealed, Mayor Bullock made a big thing about how frustrated he had been for a long period of time about the delays that had taken place.
He announced that he had instructed the Chief Executive to undertake an inquiry into the reasons for this unacceptable delay in signing the contract.
By all accounts the Chief Executive Barry Quirk CBE employed a consultant to undertake the inquiry.
Yes, you read right! A consultant is being paid by Lewisham Council to look into why the consultants took so long in completing a contract!
Keep an eye on this space for updates on this!
Downham Lifestyles contract finally signed
The South London Press reports today of Lewisham Council finally closing the deal with the Leisure Connection Ltd led consortium to build and manage the Downham Lifestyles project.The contract was signed last Wednesday.
The development is due to be completed in early 2007.
Its delivery by 2004 was part of the Mayor's manifesto at last elections.
Commenting on the deal the outgoing Mayor of Lewisham Steve Bullock forgetting all about his broken promises commented:
"I am absolutely delighted. It will be a state-of-the-art centre that everyone can enjoy for years and I look forward to be one of its first users"
That sounds familiar. Here's what he had said in October 2003 about Ladywell:
"As long as I am mayor there will be a top class swimming facility in the centre of our borough and I am looking forward to being the first person into the pool when it re-opens."
Mark Morris, Libdem councillor for Downham commented:
"It's a wonderful news that it's going ahead but a shame we had to wait so long."
The Mayor promised in his manifesto that it would be complete by 2004.
The people of Downham have been seriously let down by him.
What's occured is very serious and I don't think that has been fully appreciated"
We have to take this as a big warning.
Now the outgoing Mayor of Lewisham Steve Bullock has to justify the decision to close Ladywell and is going around the borough promising a "state-of-the-art flagship" swimming centre to replace Ladywell pool in the centre of Lewisham by 2010.
By our investigation he doesn't have much of a chance to fulfill this promise either. ...read more...
A message from Bridget Prentice MP
It
was October 2002 (year 0 of the Bullock era), and in spite of Lewisham
Council's reassuring words, the residents of Downham were not
completely at ease with the plan to demolish their library as part of
the Downham Lifestyles project.So, Bridget Prentice MP took pen and paper and wrote a message to the Downhamites.
A soothing message, for them to read before going to sleep.
Interestingly, this letter was published 9 months before a contractor to carry on the works to build the centre was even identified.
It contained these words:"...Of
course, the old will have to make way for the new, and the library
which is currently available to Downham residents will soon have to be
demolished so that work can begin on the new development.
I think
it is crucial that residents are able to continue to use library
facilities whilst the work is going on, and the council has agreed to
provide a mobile library, which will serve local people for the
duration of the works.
I have heard that there are some in our
community who have been saying that Lewisham Council will not be
providing this interim service, and am therefore pleased to reassure
Downham's library users and readers of the SLP that these rumours are
not true and that library provision will be maintained whilst the new
development is built..."
The library is now gone, it flew to heaven where it re-joined the old Downham pool that had disappeared many years before.
But Downham residents have now enjoyed for a few years a fabulous third-world style mobile library, as Bridget Prentice MP had told them.
Picture: Lewisham resident Bridget Prentice MP tells it as it is
...read more...Downham £4.5M over budget before works start
Rumour has it that Lewisham Council is about to finally sign the contract for the Downham Lifestyles Centre.This project initially had a construction budget of £10.5M.
This had to be topped up to £13M because of added inflationary costs.
Last week it emerged that in between the start of negotiations and now Lewisham Council found the way to also spend at least £876,000 on consultants.
It is now known that the contract that Lewisham Council is about to sign includes a further increase in the price to be paid to the Leisure Connection led consortium for the running of the facility.
Apparently this increase is of about £40,000 per year.
As the contract runs for 30 years this totals a £1.2M increase.
So, let's recap:
first overspend ........................ £2.5M
(inflationary costs incurred as negotiations stalled)second overspend....................£876,000
(we consider the consultants costs as all overspending. Lewisham Council has a large number of officers handsomely paid to reflect their experience and professional value. If their wages are anything to measure them by, they could have been able at least to sort out a contract without asking for help from expensive expert consultants that, at the end, produced as result a contract that delivers the last overspend of the pre-construction period of this saga)third overspend............................£1.2M
(increased price for the running of the facility, £40k for 30 years running)Total overspend..................................£4,576,000
This overspend has all accumulated since Lewisham Council decided on the Leisure Connection bid as the one to go for in July 2003.
The
very worrying thing is that the Council at least had a plan for this
centre. Unlike for the replacement for Ladywell that still has no
concrete plan.
Would you trust them to demolish the Ladywell Leisure Centre before the replacement is delivered?
This
time they seem to have found the money to cover this impressive hole.
If things go on like this there will be very little money left to cover
future holes in the building programs of Lewisham Council.
And the more ambitious they are, the riskier they get. ...read more...
Lewisham Council spent a fortune on consultants
There had been rumours about a large sum that Lewisham Council had spent on consultants to set up the PFI project for Downham.The people of Downham lost their community pool ten years ago.
Evidently Lewisham Council wanted to make sure that they get it right and decided to hire some very bright minds to help them doing it.
One thing is sure, they don't use cheap consultants. These people took two years to come up with the result that we haven't seen yet. But with a bill like this it must be a masterpiece.
We can now reveal what has been spent up until 1st August.
This total covers two different kind of advisers.
Financial, technical and procurement advice.........£ 364,430
(preparation of business cases, output specification, payment mechanism, consulting with the DA and other agencies, supporting the project team through tendering and negotiation processes, vetting bidders' financial models and accounting treatments)Legal Advice.......................................................£ 512,469
(drafting of project agreement and associated legal documents, assisting the client in the negotiation process to reach commercial and financial close of the pfi project, vetting the bidder's contract structure and documentation)
Total...................................................................£ 876,899.
And, as this is the cost up to 1st August, the tap is still running. ...read more...
Kerrier District Council - New Beginnings At Helston Sports Centre
Kerrier District Council - New Beginnings At Helston Sports Centre
:
"The Council's current management agreement with private contractors Leisure Connection Ltd, who have been engaged by the Council since 1996, expires on 15th September.Following a detailed review by Kerrier's Overview & Scrutiny Committee for Strong Communities earlier in the year, assisted by key expert witnesses and local representatives, the Council decided to resume direct management of the centre through a dedicated "in house" team."
(Via Kerrier District Council.)
Leisure Connections, the company selected by Lewisham Council for the development and running of the PFI funded Downham Lifestyles Centre has a client portfolio that though wide, is thinning by the day.
Will they get some help from Lewisham Council that is desperately trying to award them a 30 years contract of the value of £70M since July 2003?
It's now 2 years that we can't know what's happening there because it's a matter of commercial confidentiality. ...read more...
Downham Lifestyles delays *on track*
News Shopper: Centre for sports ‘ready for 2006’:
"...Lewisham Mayor Steve Bullock says the Downham Lifestyles Centre is on track and will be opened by the end of next year.
But the council admits it has still not settled on a financial package to pay for the £70m development..."
On track?
Downham pool closed in 1995.A replacement was originally promised for the year 2000.
But in 1998 the Council decided to consult with the people and that project was ditched for something more ambitious as the Downham Lifestyles project.
That left some residents unhappy.
PFI fundings were approved by the treasury in 2001.
Leisure Connection was identified as the preferred bidder in 2003.
The facility was supposed to be ready by 2004.
But the deadline started slipping away as the deal with the preferred bidder struggled to reach close for reasons we're not given to know.
At last Council meeting asked about it by Cllr Mark Morris, the Mayor replied that the Council and the contractor reached commercial agreement but the contract did not reach financial close as yet.
Whatever that means. ...read more...
Hackney Council ends contract with Leisure Connection
Hackney: "'The London Borough of Hackney and Leisure Connection Ltd have today a announced their mutual agreement to end their contract for Leisure Connection to manage four facilities in Hackney...
...Hackney Council is currently exploring options for the future management of its leisure portfolio and is committed to having robust management arrangements in place by the agreed date of handover from Leisure Connection, which is 15th September 2005."
With these dry words Hackney Council announced yesterday that it has finally decided that Leisure Connection is not giving them what they need to bring the Borough towards the Olympic games.
Meanwhile, Lewisham Council is trying hard to sign a contract that will give Leisure Connection £70M over 30 years for the delivery and running of the Downham Lifestyles project.
The project was announced 4 years ago and Leisure Connection was identified as preferred bidder two years ago.
The contract has not been signed yet.
Why?
...read more...