Agenda Item No. 6 Whitlin ngham Ch haritable Trust Fund ding Agree ement Scrutin ny Committee Mem mbers are a sked to consider the report,, assess th he effectiv veness off the Whitllingham C haritable Trust and d considerr the deve elopment of a more targetted and ou utcome-fo ocused Funding Agrreement. Cabine et member(s): Wa ard(s) affec cted: Martin Wilby Sto oke Holy Cross, Rock kland Contacct Officer, telephone numbe er, and e-m mail: Ma ark Heazle 01508 533 3979 mh [email protected] v.uk 1. P urrpose of Scrutiny 1.1. The e purpose of this scru utiny is to provide me embers witth informattion on the e effe ectiveness of the Whitlingham Cha aritable T rust in providing g man nagement of Whitling gham Country Park and providee a basis from which h to develop potential futu ure Funding g Agreeme ents. 2. S co ope of Scrrutiny 2.1. Alth hough a nu umber of d different ag gencies and d organisaations are involved in n the provision of service es and fac cilities at Whitlingham m Country Park, thiss ort conside ers solely t he service es and faciilities that a re the res sponsibilityy repo of the Whitlin ngham Ch haritable Trust i.e. the land-bbased are eas of the e Whitlingham Country Pa ark (woodla and, paths, meadowss, car park ks). 2.2. Oth her agencie es/organisa ations invo olved in prrovision att Whitlingham are ass follo ows:  Norrfolk Coun nty Counccil, who manage and operatte the Whitlingham m Outtdoor Educ cation Cen ntre, locate ed on the shore of thee Great Brroad. NCC C is responsible for the managem ment of the water within Whitlingham m Cou untry Park,, i.e. the Great and Little Broads.  The e Broads Authority, who lease e and operate the F lint Barn to provide e tourrist informa ation servicces and a sub-contra acted café. The BA also ‘hosts’ the Whitlingha am Charita able Trust and provides adminisstrative assistance.  e Whitlingh ham Boath houses Tru ust, which is a formall group of five water- The bassed rowing g and cano oeing clubs s, who own and opeerate a spo orts facilityy on the banks s of the River Yarre, a shorrt distancee from the e Outdoorr Edu ucation Centre.  The e Whitlingh ham Broad d Campsite, which is a privateely-run op peration on n land d leased directly from m the Crow wn Point Es state, locatted opposite the Flintt Barrn Visitor Centre. 2.3. Cllr Sue Thom mson is a Trustee of the Whittlingham C haritable Trust. The e Broads Autho ority are g ranted a number of Trusteee seats which theyy dele egate to th he relevantt local auth horities – Cllr. Thomsson has re epresented d the Council on n the Trustt for a num mber of yea ars. 3. Findings 3.1. The e Whitlingh ham Charittable Trus st (WCT) was established in 1998 underr the terms of an agree ement bettween Norrfolk Counnty Council and the e Arm minghall Se ettlement, the landowners, forr the extraaction of gravel from m the site. It co ommenced d operation n in 1992 with the h andover of Trowse e Wood and Me eadow, folllowed by the acquisition of Whhitlingham Wood and d Whitlingham Little Bro oad in 19 994 and 1996 resspectively. In 2005, Whitlingham Outdoor Ed ducation Centre was s opened, managed by Norfolkk Cou unty Counc cil and in 2 006 the Flint Barn Visitor Centtre was opened. Thiss is le eased to and manag ged by the e Broads Authority (B BA) on be ehalf of the e Trust and pro ovided a fo ocal point for visitorrs to the W hitlingham m Countryy Parrk as well as an inform mation cen ntre for the Broads geenerally. 3.2. The e Trust as a registere ed charity and a com mpany limitted by gua arantee. Itss activities, as listed on t he Charitty Commis ssion webssite, are to o ‘Manage e and d conserve e Whitlingh ham Countrry Park forr the recreeation and enjoymentt of members of the pub blic who wish to enjoy j its ameenities forr quiet and d pea aceful pursuits in a ru ural environ nment. 3.3. Previous SLA As have not cove ered the provision of forma al sporting g opp portunities at Whitlin ngham, which are provided by Norfo olk Countyy Cou uncil at the e Outdoor E ducation Centre and the Whittlingham Boathousess Trust (see 2.2 2) 3.4. cil has conttributed fin nancially to o For a numberr of years S outh Norffolk Counc the running co osts of the e Trust in enabling itt to carry o ut its activities. The e Trust became e a Key Se ervice Organisation in 2004 annd grants of £15,000 0 per annum we ere paid ovver, as parrt of a 3 ye ear fundingg agreeme ent. In April 2010 a furthe er 3 yearr Service Level Agreement w ith an an nnual SNC C con ntribution of £10,000 0 was agreed, subje ect to the following outcomess bein ng success sfully delive ered: - Attrract more visitors (a achieved, although n ot to the e 176,000 0 Visitor Centre e target) - New w road acccess (achie eved) - New w car parkk (delivered d in 2011/12) - Dev velop and improve Low Ropes Course (ddelivered in n 2011/12,, funded throug gh Big Lo ottery funding and m aintained by South h Norrfolk Counccil) - Tac ckle enviro onmental crrime (no da ata availabble) 3.5. Sou uth Norfolk k Council h ad previo ously lease ed and maanaged som me land att Whitlingham Country Pa ark. In 200 04/05 this was devoolved to the WCT on n the understanding tha at South Norfolk Council coontinued to provide e fina ancial support for th he manag gement off that landd. This offered the e auth hority cost savings att that time.. 3.6. Folllowing the expiration n of the 20 010 SLA att the end o f the 12/13 financial yea ar, it has continued on a rolliing year-b by-year baasis. During 2013/14 4 Sou uth Norfolk k Council’ss Funding Manager has carriedd out a rev view of the e fund ding arrangements t hat we have with a wide rangee of extern nal partnerr orga anisations, which ha as resulted in the ren negotiation of service e level and d fund ding agree ements to ensure tha at all inves stment SNC makes in external orga anisations is aligned with the corporate priorities of the authorrity. This iss the case with the agree ement with the Whitlingham Chharitable Trust as we e wish h to ensure that all future ag greements s are fit foor purpose e and thatt orga anisations that we w ork with are delive ering servvices that reflect ourr prio orities, in a way that t he impact can be evidenced. 3.7. Use er numbers r – becau use of its legal stattus as a c haritable company,, limitted by guarantee, the Trus st is obliged to p rovide th he Charityy Com mmission with an an nnual repo ort. These are publicly availab ble on the e Cha arity Comm mission we ebsite and paint a go ood overalll picture of the workk of the Trust in n meeting its objectiv ves. Beca ause of thee open nature of the e Parrk, the Trust has no way of ac ccurately re eporting thhe numberr of people e thatt use the park, but th he annual reports sta ate the following esttimates, byy tota al park users and thosse visiting the Flint Barn Visitorr Centre. Yearr 2012/13 2011/12 2010/11 2009/10 2008/0 09 Tota al 3.8. Park Users (estt) 500,000 500,000 450,000 200,000 160,000 1,810,000 entre Visitor Ce 122,00 00 150,00 00 110,00 00 No data No data 382,00 00 Fina ancial inforrmation – a gain, this forms a key part of the Truste ee’s annual repo ort to the e Charity Commission. The e Trust iss financed d through h inve estment income (via a a signific cant endow wment at the incepttion of the e Trust) and inc come from activities, such as events, grants and inc come from m car parking (s see parag graph 2.5). The mos st recent R eport and d Financial Stattement wa as filed in O ctober 20 013 and co overs the period 1st April 2012 2 st to 31 March 2013. Thiis details that income e and expeenditure fo or that and d precceding yea ars are as f ollows: Year Income Exp penditure +/ 2012/13 2011/12 2010/11 2009/10 2008/09 Total 3.9. £ 284,019 £ 191,636 £ 176,304 £ 279,171 £ 229,120 £1 1,160,250 £2 259,787 £141,530 £2 218,585 £2 241,515 £2 232,456 £1,093,873 +£2 24,232 +£5 50,106 -£42,281 +£3 37,656 -£3 3336 +£6 66,377 e financial figures an nd visitor estimates would sugggest that the park iss The bein ng well ma anaged; inccome and expenditurre are broaadly in line e with each h othe er, with a relatively small surp plus being generatedd over the course off the last five full financcial years.. Visitor numbers h ave also increased d sub bstantially since 200 08/09, butt there ha as not beeen a corrresponding g incrrease in the expen nditure inc curred by the WCT T during that time,, sug ggesting tha at the man nagement of the park k is offeringg improving value forr mon ney. 3.10. Sincce 2012, th he Trust ha as contrac cted the services of a n external company,, ParrkingEye, to oversee e the man nagement of the sixx car park ks that are e ava ailable for use aroun nd Whitling gham Coun ntry Park, using an Automaticc Num mber Plate e Recognitiion system m. This has not provedd universa ally popularr and d has elicited a num mber of complaints from visittors who mistakenlyy believe that South N orfolk Co ouncil is responsibble for the parking g arra angements s at the Park. 4. Relevant Corrporate Prriorities 4.1. Enh hancing our qualitty of life and the environm ment we live in byy provviding a well-maintaiined and accessible green spaace for residents and d visittors to enjo oy, as well as provid ding, both directly annd indirectly, facilitiess for residents to take p art in reg gular outdo oor-based sport and physical activity. 4.2. omoting a thriving g local economy by actingg as a key touristt Pro desstination in South No orfolk, bringing in vis sitors from outside of the local area a, including g the grow wing sports tourism se ector. 4.3. Sup pporting communitiies to reallise their potential t hrough the e provision n of education,, such ass the Forrest Skills programm me, and numerouss con nservation volunteerin ng opportu unities. 4.4. The e work of the WCT a nd the services thatt it providees can also o be linked d to two of the e four em merging th hemes tha at the Couuncil is working to: Eco onomic Gro owth (see Promoting g a Thrivin ng Econom my in 4.2 above) and d Hea alth & Wellbeing (also see e Enhancing qualitty of life and the e envvironment that we live e in in 4.1 above). Implica ations and d Risks 4.5. Fina ancial – So outh Norfo olk Council has made e annual financial co ontributionss to the Whitling gham Cha aritable Tru ust for a number of y ears, initiially based d on the transfe er of land previously y managed d by the C ouncil (see 3.5) and d reprresented a cost savin ng to the Council at the time. 4.6. Leg gal – South h Norfolk C ouncil has s no legal obligation t o provide funding to the Whitlingha am Charita able Trust. 4.7. Envvironmenta al – the wo ork of the Whitlingha am Charitaable Trustt is vital in n enssuring that Whitlingha am Countrry Park is managed a nd conse erved in an n app propriate, environmen ntally-susta ainable ma anner. 5. Con nclusion 5.1. The e WCT provides an incredibly y valuable e and poppular assett in South h Norrfolk, an asset thatt helps us to achieve somee of our Corporate e Objectives an nd contribu utes to nu umerous outcomes w ithin the authority’ss ectorate Plans. It is sugges sted that memberss consider whetherr Dire con ntinued fina ancial sup pport for th he WCT is s appropriaate and, if so, whatt mea asures the e Council would like to see e in relattion to pe erformance e man nagement.. Park visitor numbers are based on e stimates but those e reco orded by the Visitor Centre offfer a useful f proxy b y which to o measure e the success of the WCT T in attracting more people. 6. Acttion Requiired 6.1. The e Scrutiny Committee e is reques sted to endorse the coontents of the report and d evaluate the outcom mes of the current SL LA. 6.2. With h a view to o monitor th he outcom mes and outcomes moore effectiv vely in futu ure, membe ers to conssider wheth her to requ uest that thhe WCT an nd partnerss at th he Broads Authority e ither: 6.2.1. Develop ro obust outco ome measures and p erformanc ce indicators w ith which h our investtment can be justified d (specific details to b e agreed by the Trust, in liaisoon with Sou uth Norfolk Co ouncil office ers, before e any furtheer financial contribution is made by South Norfolk Coouncil); or 6.2.2. Reapply fo or a nationa ally recogn nised manaagement accreditatio on award such as the Green Flag Award, which would dem monstrate quality of management (specific c details to o be agreed by the Tru ust, in liaiso on with Soouth Norfolk k Council officers, be efore any ffurther financial contrribution is made by South Norffolk Counc cil).