A new leasing arrangement to secure the long-term school and community use of the Rew Valley Sports Centre at Ventnor, is due to be considered next week (7th July).
An agreement is being proposed with the new Island Community School which is due to redevelop and occupy land opposite the sports centre.
Under the lease agreement, the community school would take over the running of the sports centre and its adjacent playing fields and would be required to offer their use to St Francis Primary School – which adjoins the centre – and to the community out of school hours. St Francis Primary School, on the site of the former Ventnor Middle School, has been fully consulted on the plans and is working with the community school to achieve acceptable arrangements.
A meeting of the council’s Property Disposal and Capital Programme Sub Committee will decide on the proposal when it meets next week.
The community school (a free school), is currently operating out of the old St Boniface Primary School site in Ventnor, but is intending to move once it has rebuilt the former St Margaret’s Primary School site opposite the sports centre.
The Rew Valley Sports Centre and playing fields were until recently used as a sports facility for the former Ventnor Middle School and the community, and were funded by the council’s education budget.
In 2011, Ventnor Middle School was demolished and replaced by the new-built St Francis Primary School, which is run by the Catholic Diocese of Portsmouth and the Church of England Dioceses of Portsmouth and Winchester. It was determined the sports centre provided more facilities than were required or could be funded by a normal primary school – and as a result, St Francis Primary School was designed to operate independently from it.
Since the closure of Ventnor Middle School, the council has funded the centre (at a cost of £50,000 a year) from its community budgets while a new third party was sought to manage it. In February this year the council received an expression of interest from the community school to take on the centre.
The proposed lease is for 125-years, with a restriction for sports and community use only and other key conditions.
Executive member for resources, Councillor Jon Gilbey, said:
“This proposal, if accepted, will provide a long-term solution for the sports centre’s future which is designed to give benefits to pupils at both the community school and St Francis Primary School – as well as the local and wider community.
“We hope it will ensure many more years of enjoyable sporting activity at this location for local children, the community of Ventnor and the Island as a whole.”
Executive member with responsibility for sport, Councillor Shirley Smart, said:
“The sports centre and playing fields are a vital facility for both local schoolchildren and the adult sporting community of Ventnor. Through this proposal an appropriate arrangement will be put in place, ensuring the centre is available to all for many years to come.”
