DERBY CITY COUNCIL

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Derby is out of the running on the chance to become the new home to a Government agency that would have brought 450 jobs to the city. A shortlist of six cities in the running to become the base for the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority has been reduced down to four, and Derby has dropped off it. It means the agency will move to Nottingham, Coventry, Sheffield or Birmingham.

John Forkin, of Marketing Derby, the organisation which had led the campaign to bring the QCA to the city, said, "We're disappointed because we feel we put a really good case together. What knocked us out is something which we couldn't have done much about. We don't have the cluster of education bodies here that other cities do. We were told we did have the best team."

He added, "Derby's profile isn't yet high enough, but what we found was that people who visited here were converted. What we need to do now is learn from this. We need to look at the other 70 or so Government agencies that are looking to move and see which ones we should work to attract here."

The QCA and other agencies are moving as part of a Government plan to relocate 20,000 public sector jobs from the South- East to the regions. It does not plan to move until 2009. The QCA used a number of criteria to evaluate the contenders. It relied on a report from staff who visited each of the cities, along with the quantity and perceived quality of the labour pool and the area's diversity.

Travel accessibility and the availability of offices were also considered along with, perhaps crucially, the proximity to other Government agencies. A spokesman for the QCA said, "Unfortunately, Derby and one other city did not make the shortlist of four cities. Derby had much to commend it as a future location but it did not score as highly as the other cities." Derby City Council leader Chris Williamson said, "It's very disappointing. We'd a very good case and everybody involved put that case across very well." (Source: Derby Evening Telegraph, Aug/06)

A school bus for pupils from the Sinfin area to Derby Moor Community Sports College, in Littleover, is to be axed in a bid by the city council to save money. The move follows a review of the provision of home-to-school transport which costs £33,700 a year. As part of the transport review, 66 pupils who use the Mill Lane to Littleover Community School service will have just one double decker bus instead of two at present.

The city council has to pay costs if pupils have to travel more than three miles to a school that is designated by the authority for them. Service 272 from Sinfin to Derby Moor is used by pupils who apply for identity card passes and pay a subsidised fare but just one pupil using the service lives in the catchment area for Derby Moor Community Sports College and can access a commercial service, according to the review.

The current cost of the bus service which is being axed is £192.37 a day, with just £15 taken in fares. Officers estimate that £19,000 will be saved when the number of buses on the Mill Hill Lane to Littleover Community School route is cut. The current cost of the buses is £366.80 per day, with a revenue of £30 from fares. Parents who take their children to school by car instead of accepting a council paid-for taxi will have their mileage allowance increased from 12.9p per mile to 40p per mile. (Source: Derby Evening Telegraph, Aug/06)

Lancaster Sports Centre is to close because the city council says that it cannot afford a £750,000 repair bill. The announcement means that dozens of clubs and thousands of people who use the centre will have to find an alternative venue. The city council says that the centre, on top of the Chapel Street car park, would need £750,000 spending on it over the next five years and a further £500,000 over the next 20 years.

In 2004, the city council used private consultants to carry out a survey of five Derby leisure centres and concluded that about £3.8m was needed to update all of them. Discussions took place at the time over the possibility of the centres being turned over to private ownership but the council decided against taking that step. During 2005-6, 93,700 attendances were recorded at the centre. This compared with 443,000 at Moorways; 347,000 at the Queen's Leisure Centre; 177,000 at Springwood Leisure Centre and 59,000 at the Shaftesbury Centre.

The Lancaster Sports Centre, built in 1973, has a mixed gym, a women-only gym, a sports hall and activity rooms and offers facilities for five-a-side football, badminton, short tennis, hockey, netball, volleyball, basketball, martial arts and trampolining. Pupils at Littleover Community School use the centre for five-a-side football and judo, with up to 40 pupils taking part in both sports at each half-term. Councillor Alan Graves, cabinet member for leisure and direct services, said that it was regrettable that the council had to close the centre. (Source: Derby Evening Telegraph, Jun/06)

Firms are being invited to run Lancaster Sports Centre that has been threatened with closure. Any interested companies will have to show the council a detailed proposal showing their plans on how they intend to run the centre on budget and to a standard that the council deems acceptable. Alan Graves, the council's cabinet member for leisure and cultural services, said that despite the centre needing a large amount of investment, he was hopeful that someone would come forward.

He said, "The council will do everything it can to help anyone who is interested in running the centre. We consider measures such as not charging them any rent in the early stages of the lease while work is carried out." Mr Graves said that, if any proposals were submitted, the closure of the centre could be pushed back even further while they were being considered. He added that the jobs of the staff at the centre would have to be safeguarded where possible in any plans put forward. (Source: Derby Evening Telegraph, Aug/06)

Lancaster Sports Centre could reopen within weeks after Derby City Council said it was preparing to accept a bid by a private club to take it on. Derby Gymnastics Club is expected to be given the keys to the Chapel Street centre next month, and it plans to begin improvement work immediately so it can reopen in early 2007. The club plans to convert the main sports hall into a specialist gymnasium. (Source: Derby Evening Telegraph, Nov/06)