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Netham Park – sports and community building facilities details

Contents Netham Park – sports and community building facilities details ............................................................ i

General information ........................................................................................................................... 1

Address ........................................................................................................................................... 1

About the site.................................................................................................................................. 1

Our vision for the site ..................................................................................................................... 1

The organisation we wish to work with .......................................................................................... 2

Our offer.......................................................................................................................................... 2

Conditions of use ................................................................................................................................ 3

Management and maintenance ...................................................................................................... 3

Period and times of use .................................................................................................................. 3

Trading ............................................................................................................................................ 4

Events and licensing ........................................................................................................................ 4

Condition of pitch required ............................................................................................................. 4

Notes ............................................................................................................................................... 4

Other legal interests present .............................................................................................................. 5

Pavilion/changing rooms .................................................................................................................... 6

Location ........................................................................................................................................... 6

Description ...................................................................................................................................... 6

Comprises of ................................................................................................................................... 6

Building condition ........................................................................................................................... 7

Utility services ................................................................................................................................. 7

Modification / extension permitted ............................................................................................... 7

Pitches ................................................................................................................................................. 8

Description ...................................................................................................................................... 8

Condition ......................................................................................................................................... 8

Site pictures ........................................................................................................................................ 9

External view from car park area .................................................................................................... 9

Community room .......................................................................................................................... 10

Example changing room and showers .......................................................................................... 10

1

General information

Address

Netham Sports and Community Pavilion, Netham Park, Avonvale Road, Bristol BS5 9RN

BCC Property Id: 124238

About the site

Netham Park is a large park with open green spaces in east Bristol. It has areas designated for sport that are flat and accessible though the park itself is effectively terraced. The park currently hosts multiple pitches for both football and cricket and was subject of significant investment for sport c10 years ago. However even if there are cricket games, football, people flying kites and picnickers, there is still plenty of room to wander around.

The park has a children's play area, a multi-use ball court and an outdoor bowls facility with pavilions. There is ample on-site parking for the public and sports users.

The Friends of Netham Park have worked with Avon Wildlife Trust over the past few years to create a wildlife haven, so the park is beautifully maintained and is clearly enjoyed by the whole community.

The built facilities at the Netham are recognised as the best and most modern park facilities for sport in the city. They lend themselves to multiple users in terms of sport and multiple uses in terms of the functionality of the building. The pavilion has changing rooms, toilet facilities, office facilities, a storage room, a commercial kitchen and kitchenettes.

Our vision for the site

We wish to see a new lease and licence holder who will primarily encourage and develop the use of the park for formal sport but who can do this whilst being sensitive to the many other uses and users. The facilities lend themselves to a range of uses and the leaseholder will be expected to offer community activities and services that are beyond formal sport with particular interest in physical activity, health and wellbeing.

The leaseholder should also be open to engage with the community, the Council and others who may wish to use the park in other ways that meet local needs and aspirations. Key stakeholders are the Friends group, Bristol Pakistani Cricket Club, the Wellspring Healthy Living Centre and Avonvale Bowls Club.

We want to see a leaseholder that is committed to being inclusive, who welcomes new members and encourages people across Bristol's diverse communities to take part in sport and physical activity.

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Because of the importance of the site to the local community, the park will need to be open and accessible and continue to provide a range of functions for everyone in the neighbourhood.

The organisation we wish to work with

We are not prescribing what type of operator we envisage for the site – sports club, community organisation, charity, company, commercial operator or a combination of these. However the operator must identify how they would operate a formal sports asset that is financially sustainable and encourages and develops participation in sport, physical activity and promotes health and wellbeing.

We expect the park assets controlled by the new operator to be properly maintained and enhanced where possible and understand that the operator may need to generate income and carry out activities outside of sport to achieve this.

Our offer

A lease for the current community and sports pavilion building. The leaseholder is expected to ensure the facilities deliver services beyond sport. The bowling pavilion and green is not included in this offer. The lease would be available for a period up to 25 years.

A licence to play formal sport in the park on a playing field area with space for three to four full-sized outdoor playing pitches, a grass cricket wicket and artificial cricket wickets. The public will continue to have open access to the site for use as a public park. The license will be available for a period up to 25 years.

A ground lease area for positioning a storage container for goal post, nets, corner flags and equipment associated with the pitches.

Because the car park is for all site users when open, it is not included in the lease or licence offer but will be available for users of the sports facilities.

To support sustainable funding for the sport, additional uses consistent with the nature of the park would be considered by the council subject to the use as a sports facility being protected.

The lease holder and licence holder will be able to hire out the pavilion building, changing facilities and licenced pitches for others' use for sport and other activities providing fees are designed to encourage use rather than prevent access.

3

Conditions of use

Management and maintenance

The buildings under lease and the pitches under licence for formal sport must be maintained by the new leaseholder. For the changing rooms this would mean maintaining them over time to their current condition or better and cleaning, painting etc regularly as they are used.

All services costs would also be the responsibility of the leaseholder as would responsibility for all waste disposal generated from the demised premises and their activities.

For pitches this includes providing posts and corner flags, marking out and grass cutting.

Bristol City Council will undertake grass cutting on pitches for the purpose of recreational enjoyment by the general public not for the purpose of sport. The timing, frequency and height of cut will vary from time to time. The licence holder will be responsible for any additional grass cutting required as they see fit in order to maintain the playing surface to a suitable standard for their sport.

Goal posts must be erected and dismantled for each match. The club are responsible for the provision posts and socket boxes to include erection, dismantling, maintenance, repair, storage, replacement and safety at all times for the sports facility users and general public.

The licence holder club may erect and dismantle temporary spectator barrier fencing at the edge of the run off margin on football pitches on the day of matches only. The licence holder may erect temporary demarcation fence around the cricket square when it and the adjacent artificial match wicket is not is use. Permanent pitch fencing may be permitted on this site subject to consideration of the grass and artificial cricket wickets and with prior agreement with the council.

Vehicle access to the pitches is restricted to occasional use to service and maintain the building and pitches.

The lease holder will be responsible for securing the park entrance gate at the start of the access road to the designated car park when the pavilion is in use, responsible for any unauthorised access whilst the gate is open and for ensuring that all vehicles vacate the site after use.

Period and times of use

The playing season for football is 26th August to 30th April. Match times are Saturday 9am to 5pm and Sunday 9.30am to 1pm. Midweek games only permitted Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday 4pm to 7pm during the first two weeks of the season and during April.

Cricket on last man stands wickets is able to be played all year round. Cricket on the grass wicket is currently arranged by Bristol Pakistani Cricket Club who operate from April to September.

Additional periods such as summer training camps may be permitted subject to the council's agreement.

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Pavilion / changing room building all year round use limited to 6am to 11.30pm or as not to cause nuisance or disturbance to the local community / neighbouring properties.

Other sports could be played on this site with different playing seasons. We will consider any reasonable request for other periods and times of use on a case by case basis.

Trading

Trading agreements outside of the agreed business case / service agreement and / or lease terms would be subject to a separate agreement and it is possible a fee may be sought.

The leaseholder / licence holder shall not trade in competition with the commercial activities of the Council.

Events and licensing

The Council needs to reserve the right to hold events in the area of the park licensed by the new operator at any time. There is a presumption in the right that the Council’s activities will take precedence over the licence holder's use so as not to cause a conflict. This will include a period for event set up, the event duration, take down and reinstatement if applicable. This right would not be exercised unreasonably.

The licence holder is not permitted to sub-licence events on non-exclusive licenced areas.

Condition of pitch required

The licence holder is responsible for ensuring playing pitches are maintained in a suitable and safe condition for sport in the playing season and for general public recreational access. The licence holder will need to arrange maintenance programs and repair work as required to achieve this including husbandry and repair works outside the sports playing season.

Any club members or contractors appointed by the club to carry out maintenance operations within the park will need to undertake a Site Health and Safety Induction and submit risk assessments and method statements prior to work taking place on site.

The council has adopted an Ecological Emergency Strategy and insecticides and herbicides must not be used without the prior permission of the council.

Notes

The sports pitches are constructed on a former industrial and landfill site which has been subject to cut and fill re-modelling.

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The pavilion building capacity is greater than permitted in the fire risk assessment.

The recently constructed 3 no. artificial match wickets have been provided with ECB funding, one of the wickets is immediately adjacent the grass cricket square.

Car parking is only permitted within the designated car park accessible off Avonvale Road in connection with the times of use of the pavilion building and/or sports pitches. Car park shown in ORANGE HATCH on attached plan.

Vehicle access to the pavilion building car park is restricted to the access road off Avonvale Road, shown in PURPLE OUTLINE on attached plan. Maintenance vehicles may travel onward to the pitches when ground conditions permit and to the pavilion building surround for maintenance, repairs and wood fuel delivery.

Other legal interests present

English Cricket Board (ECB). The ECB part funded the construction of the building and the artificial match wickets, as a condition of their funding they have retained rights and restrictions. Full details will be provided on request.

The Football Foundation has a twenty year interest in the site of which there is approximately ten years remaining.

Community at Heart have an interest in the site. Details will be provided on request.

The Bristol Pakistani Cricket Club have a lease to play on this site using the facilities.

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Pavilion/changing rooms

Location

Located at the northern end of the park between the upper and lower areas, the entrance is off Avonvale Road. The location is approx. 25m from the nearest football pitch and 30m from the cricket square boundary.

Pavilion building, 2 no. shipping containers and waste bin store shown in RED OUTLINE and position to place 1 no. container in BROWN OUTLINE on attached plan.

Description

A two-storey detached property partially built into the slope, built approximately 10 years ago providing community hall and changing rooms.

Comprises of

• Lower ground floor • Plant Room • External store room • Official’s changing/ shower • Male toilet • Female toilet • Entrance lobby/stairs • Corridor 1 & 2 • Changing room 1/shower/lobby/toilet • Changing room 3/shower/lobby/toilet • Changing room 5/shower/lobby/toilet • Changing room 6/shower/lobby/toilet • Upper ground floor • Kitchen • Community room • Entrance lobby • Reception office • Office • Tea point x 2 • Roof void • Ventilation plantroom • Waste Bin Store (located in car park)

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Building condition

B - Satisfactory - Performing as intended requiring minor repairs.

There are some damp issues in the building in particularly the lower ground floor which mainly comprises of the changing rooms.

A condition survey is available to view dated 30th August 2018.

Utility services

• Electric supply • Mains water • Mains sewerage • Telecoms

The lease holder will be responsible for all utilities.

Note: building has a wood fuel boiler.

Modification / extension permitted

Internal modifications and building extensions may be permitted subject to the council's approval. Modifications may also require planning permission and need to meet building regulations. Any extension proposal would also be subject to an Open Space Disposal Notice.

Any additional building proposal would need to be visually pleasing externally and be subject to Landlords, Planning and Building Regulation approval. Note that the lower ground floor is unlikely to have been designed and constructed with the intention of taking an additional load above, where it currently does not support the upper ground floor i.e. on the patio to the gable end of the community hall and above the wood fuel “hopper”.

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Pitches

Description

The football pitches, cricket square and artificial wickets are located in the park land which is semi-formal in nature. It is required that the public have the right to continue to enjoy the use of the land, this constraint will partly determine the maximum quality level that the sports facilities can achieve given that it is a publically accessible sports field.

The four 11v11 pitches are to a constructed grade (cut and fill) and have a sub-surface drainage system, whilst the 5v5 / 7v7/ 9v9 pitch is on native ground with reasonably natural drainage, all pitches have good soil texture and depth for grass growth. Whilst the constructed pitches have drainage they can remain wet during the winter months.

The pitches are marked in a BLUE outline on the attached map.

The 550m2 cricket square has developed over time by improving the grass land rather than being a purpose built constructed square, as such this will limit the maximum quality level that can be achieved. There is a water point at the side of the square.

Condition

Standard grade using the Football Association Non-Technical Visual Assessment

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Site pictures

External view from car park area

10

Community room

Example changing room and showers