It's been almost two months since myself and my colleagues were elected as your parish council, and I was elected as the chairman of the council. Since the election results were announced, we’ve been working really hard to get set up, understand our current position and make some changes to ensure that we are working in the most effective way over the next three years. We’ve been focused on ‘getting our house in order’ and to give us the much-needed framework and governance to enable us to ensure the smooth and effective running of the council moving forward. I know that a number of you have been looking to us for updates – and I’m glad to be updating you on a number of points today, now that we’ve got a clearer picture of where we are at.
I think it’s fair to say that this has not exactly been an easy process and has took longer than we’d like. We’ve been working against the lack of handover from the outgoing chair and members, and the existing temporary clerk and proper officer to the council being absent from work from the start. As an urgent action and to allow the business of the council to take place, we appointed a new temporary clerk. We’re in the process of recruiting a new permanent clerk, and are currently shortlisting applicants, having recently advertised to fill this position.
Whilst this procedural activity has been taking place, including modernising our standing orders and operational policies and procedures - we’ve also been working on a number of more practical matters. These include:
- As soon as we practically and safely could, we reopened the ‘dry-side’ of Penketh Pool to allow community groups to resume.
- We’ve appointed a new HR & Health and Safety contractor, Peninsula, to work alongside us to improve the service we give to our employees and to help us ensure we are compliant with law.
- Initial enhancements to the live-stream for our meetings, now they are back in-person to allow meetings to be accessed by as many people as possible.
- Introduced Microsoft Office 365 into our organisation, to ensure data is held securely and to improve our internal communication and updated our website to reflect the new administration and added a section to house our policies, standing orders and other important documents for transparency.
PENKETH POOL
We know that many of you are eagerly awaiting the reopening of Penketh Pool, to bring vital swimming lessons and leisure activities back to Penketh. I believe that I speak for all members when I say that this is of the highest importance for us to address. Unfortunately, we’re not in a position to reopen the facility at this time.
Since being elected, myself and colleagues have been working to understand what the position is with the pool, including several meetings with contractors. The previous controlling group had very much kept us in the dark with regard to the status of the pool, and although the venue closed (due to COVID-19) in March 2020 and the pool drained, a structural engineer’s report was only completed in April 2021, the month prior to the election. The issues had been present, unbeknown to us, for a considerable amount of time before this.
There are significant issues with the pool itself and the plant systems associated with keeping it running and safe. These need to be rectified before we can look to reopen. These issues include, but are not limited to:
- Leaking through several visible cracks and holes to the pool wall, which also gives concern that the ground material beneath and to the sides of the pool will be saturated and washed away, causing possible instability.
- The seal to the deep end collection filter has failed which is now allowing groundwater to get into the pool.
- The filtration system is not working. The previous council appointed a contractor to fix this, but pressure testing has indicated that the pipes which supply the pool are leaking and will require replacement at the same time as the plant equipment.
As I’m sure you can appreciate - this isn’t an overnight fix and will require a considerable amount of funding and project management to put right. We’re in an unfortunate position where our work is taking longer, due to the lack of existing information. Our Business Management committee will be leading a crisis management workstream to fully investigate, work with contractors and report to the full council. As previously mentioned, we’re in discussions with contractors to identify and quote for the repairs that are required. We’ll utilise this information, as well as taking an overall view of the site & business, to populate a project plan to give us short-term and long-term objectives. Alongside this, our Marketing and Communications committee will be working to ensure that we deliver regular updates on the plans and progress to you.
In regard to refunds, we’ve been made aware (that despite previous reassurances from management), there is a considerable amount of users that have paid for lessons that have not been able to be fulfilled. We’re in the process of identifying these individuals – and we will make contact with you within the next 14 days to arrange a refund. I know that this isn’t the greatest of news (it wasn’t to us either) but rest assured that your council will do whatever we can to deal with this.
FINANCIAL POSITION
Understanding the financial position of the council has also been of critical importance to us. Again, it’s unfortunate that this has also proved challenging without any proper handover. Based on the current position, the accounts do not make for good reading. Our temporary clerk has not been able to find budget information for the current year, on which the requested Precept will have been based. Looking through last year’s accounts, there are several concerns. Despite the Audit and Interim Audit recommendations, previous Councillors have continued to make decisions without following the Financial Regulations or considering the Financial Risk Assessment. We’re still working to regain full access to our accounts – and as soon as we have, we’ll of course be releasing the accounts for full transparency. A Finance Management committee has been established to get us back on track – including working on our responsibilities in respect of Annual Governance & Accountability Return (AGAR) and our budgets.
I’m very confident that we’ve got the right people sat around the table to fix these historical issues, to get our business fully reopen for the community and really drive positive change in Penketh. With the introduction of our new committee structure, I believe that we are set-up for the hard work that’s ahead of us. I promise that you will see more updates from us as we progress – and our Marketing and Communications committee will be working on a wider communication strategy for the council.
If you’ve got any feedback, questions or concerns, please don’t hesitate to get in touch.
Best,
Cllr Dale Solan-Cooper
Chairman of Penketh Parish Council
