Investigation: Emails reveal tensions between Sheffield Council officials and trustees in charge of running leisure facilities

There were "tensions" between Sheffield Council and the trustees in charge of running the city's major leisure facilities.
Watch more of our videos on Shots! 
and live on Freeview channel 276
Visit Shots! now

Executive Director Eugene Walker outlined problems in an email to senior councillors in July 2020 where he said he had asked for further meetings with trustees of Sheffield City Trust.

He said: "I think we need monthly meetings going forward. As I said on the call, the "tension" we have to manage here.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

"I have been talking to (redacted) and we need to respect that - but they on the other hand need to accept that they are taking a huge slide (sic) of public money and we need reassurance on how it is used.

Julie Dore.Julie Dore.
Julie Dore.

"Julie [Dore, former Council Leader] made this clear when she last met them but we need to reinforce it.

"(redacted) and I have already been working to manage the tension but it's tricky because (redacted)

"I think he had difficulty reading the runes with his trustees again this week.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

"If we have the meeting with other trustees and yourselves we can talk about that tension and managing it there too.

"If we then have monthly member/trustee meetings then we can focus on the purpose of how to reduce the potential costs from April next year - which needs to involve more joint work with Sheffield City Trust."

The redacted email was revealed in a Freedom of Information request submitted by the Local Democracy Service in August 2020. The council said the delayed response was due to a "significant backlog" with the pandemic.

Related topics: