Case Study 4

Project: Redcar and Cleveland Sport and Active Best Value Service Review

Client: Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council

Outline: Adopting a central role in the mandatory Best Value Service Review for the Council's Sport and Active recreation function.

Our approach: The Council's leisure services department asked us to play a central co-ordinating role in it's Best Value Review, including development of an Improvement Plan. Under normal circumstances the Council would assume this role itself, but asked us to become involved because:

• At the time it lacked staff resources to undertake the Review within the identified timeframe;
• Of our successful involvement in the Sport and Recreation Strategy; and,
• Of our involvement with councils elsewhere, providing us with an overview of 'other ways of doing things'- this is central to Best Value.

Our work on the Sports and Active Recreation Strategy allowed us to help clarify and define service objectives, and ensured that they were entirely consistent with wider Community Plan and Corporate aims and objectives.

We made clear recommendations on changes to service provision to facilitate a much wider take up of the Council's service than had traditionally happened. We advocated a part change in emphasis away from the traditional focus on 'pitches, sports halls and swimming pools' to other ways of service provision in association with partner departments, agencies and organizations.

Benefits: The review process has defined clearly the Council's service aims, objectives and priorities for the community it serves. Importantly, it has identified what the Council does well; but also where there is scope for improvement and need for change in terms of meeting the disparate needs of the local community.

The Review has helped to defend and justify the Council's Leisure Services function, and shown how it can be made more effective through the development of inter and intra agency links.