Cornwall Council Leisure Services Transfer

This Prior Information Notice (PIN) is an indication of potential future procurement activity and may be subject to change. This notice makes no commitment to procure any services. This PIN is not part of any pre-qualification or selection process.

Cornwall Council has great pleasure in presenting an opportunity for the right partner(s) to develop and operate leisure facilities in Cornwall.

The Council’s ambition for leisure provision is that there is a sustainable network of leisure facilities and activities available to residents and visitors across the county contributing to local health, wellbeing and the economy of Cornwall. At the same time the Council is seeking to eliminate its leisure bill and liabilities by 2017/18 in order to realise a saving of £ 3.7M.

The Council wishes to transfer its leisure facilities to an external provider on 1 April 2017. The expectation is for a single / whole network transfer but potential also exists for multiple transfers. The Council envisages divestment of property either on a long leasehold or freehold basis, provided sustainability of provision challenges are met.

Cornwall Council’s Leisure Resources Strategy is published on the Council’s website: www.cornwall.gov.uk/leisuretransfer

The Council conducted a market test in November 2014. That exercise aimed to establish initial interest in delivering the Council’s ambition of a sustainable network of leisure facilities in Cornwall.

At the time of conducting this test the Council started to collate what we believe to be the key information that could assist interested parties and help to paint a better picture. This includes information about the properties and assets (plus potential opportunities from neighbouring assets), an informal assessment around alternative uses for sites, indicative site valuation and condition survey etc. Some of this information is now available to inform potential suppliers (see below). We are offering a further opportunity for suppliers to consult with the Council about its requirements on 4 August 2015 at the Aztec Hotel, Aztec West, Almondsbury, Bristol BS32 4TS. Cornwall events for interested community organisations have been arranged for 5 August (Camborne One Stop Shop) and 6 August (St Austell One Stop Shop).

We are seeking to further understand the factors that would make the Council’s approach most commercially sound and thereby attractive to suppliers to inform the Council’s publication of any tender opportunity to the market. As such the Council requests that interested parties respond to the second stage of our research.

There are several sources of information available to assist with your response, collated into a suite of documents on the Cornwall Council website: www.cornwall.gov.uk/leisuretransfer . We would like to hear your initial thoughts and impressions. Please use the response form when responding (www.cornwall.gov.uk/leisuretransfer).