Review of the Priory Centre for St Neots Town Council
Learn how we undertook review of operations at the Priory Centre to help the Town Council consider its future.
About the project
Funder
Cambridgeshire ACRE was commissioned by St Neots Town Council to undertake this consultancy work.
Why is this needed?
The Priory Centre in St Neots was built in the late 1980s, with ownership shared between Huntingdonshire District Council and St Neots Town Council. Cambridgeshire ACRE was commissioned by the Town Council to undertake a review of operations that would contribute towards a new business plan for the Centre.
Work included:
- A review of the ownership and leasing arrangements for the Priory Centre to understand impact these might have on future operations.
- A review and analysis of the customers using the Priory Centre and the activities taking place there. This included a customer consultation exercise.
- A financial review of income and expenditure over the last three years.
- A review and analysis of the human resources employed at the Centre including proposing an affordable future staffing model.
- A review of the external operating environment impacting on the Priory Centre.
Cambridgeshire ACRE brought together a small team of staff to work on this project including senior management with business planning and analytical skills, staff with expertise in community buildings management and accounts staff to support financial analysis. The team worked closely with the Town Council Clerk and the Centre Manager at the Priory Centre.
The work was completed over a five month period and concluded with the presentation of the final written report to the Town Council.
How can you get involved?
Other community facilities who believe their operations would benefit from an in-depth review by an independent third party are encouraged to contact Cambridgeshire ACRE for an estimate of cost.
What impact has our work had?
As a result of this work, the Town Council:
- Better understand who the Centre’s customers are and their perceptions of the Centre.
- Understand capacity levels at the Priory Centre and have a better sense of the market it is operating in.
- Understand which activities are profit/loss-making, allowing decisions to be made over activities to be encouraged and the level of subsidy awarded to community activities.
- Has been able to determine the optimum, affordable staffing structure.
- Has a clear understanding of the Centre’s competition, possible commercial opportunities and the impact of the St Neots Masterplan.
