Partnership Agreement Between Rochdale Boroughwide Cultural Trust and Rochdale Borough Council

Rochdale Boroughwide Cultural Trust has been trading as Link4Life since it was established in 2007. The trust delivers the leisure and cultural services on behalf of the Council by way of a partnership agreement from 1st April 2007 for a period of 15 years to 31st March 2022, and has a large footprint of services, ranging from sports and health programmes to arts, heritage and entertainment across the borough of Rochdale.

In October 2018 Cabinet approved the activation of the 5 year contract extension option on the current partnership agreement to 31st March 2027.

In July 2021 Cabinet approved a 5 year contract extension option on the current partnership agreement, which was required to enable continued confidence and financial governance for both parties in relation to investments and business opportunities currently in progress and in order to continue with the Council’s ambitions.

This means the current partnership agreement runs to 31st March 2032.

The recommendation was to:

• Support the development of an outcome and commissioned type of approach to the Partnership Agreement.
• Support the development and inclusion of a full asset review of the facilities Link4Life operate to establish a clear matrix of responsibilities and identify future budget requirements both from a capital and revenue perspective for both the Council and Link4Life.
• Provide an in depth understanding of the planned capital improvements needed to the buildings over the remaining tenure of the partnership arrangements