Agenda and minutes

The Cabinet Member placed on record his thanks and appreciation to Councillor Taylor, who had been the Shadow Cabinet Member for this portfolio since the 2014/15 municipal year.

Councillor Lapsa, the Shadow Cabinet Member for 2017/18 was welcomed to his first meeting.

There were no disclosable pecuniary interests.

a)  To consider the minutes of the meeting held on 13^th February 2017.

b)  Matters arising.

The minutes of the meeting held on 13^th February 2017 were agreed and signed as a true record.  There were no matters arising.

Report of the Deputy Chief Executive (People)

The Cabinet Member considered a report of the Deputy Chief Executive (People), which set out proposals for new route markers in parks as part of the Coventry on the Move in Parks project.

The report indicated that Coventry’s parks play a crucial role in the health and wellbeing of the people of Coventry by promoting healthy lifestyles through enabling the delivery of health and fitness, play, relaxation and sporting activities to those who live, work or visit the City.  The many parks in the City are open to everyone, and as such, provide a significant opportunity to take an asset based approach to encourage people to become more active.

The project aimed to increase levels of physical activity in parks, specifically increasing the amount of walking, jogging and running, through the creation of activity routes within 45 parks using marker posts and maps to denote distances and routes, to highlight areas of interest and other parks in the locality.  As part of this project, two of the 45 parks identified, Morris Common and Caludon Castle Park, would have bredon gravel paths installed as well as the route markers.

Partnership work would be undertaken with local partners and community groups to promote the use of these markers and a promotional campaign would be undertaken, linking with the already familiar and popular ‘Coventry on the Move’ brand.

It was anticipated that the overall investment in Phase 1 would be approximately £325k, to be funded from existing public health resources.

The proposed launch date for the new route markers in parks was September 2017.

RESOLVED that the Cabinet Member for Public Health and Sport:

1.  Endorse the proposals for Phase 1 of the Coventry on the Move in Parks project.

2.  Approve the allocation of funding to support implementation of Phase 1.

3.  Note the proposal for a second phase following review and evaluation of Phase 1.

There were no other items of public business.