Venue: Council Chamber, Civic Centre, Windmill Street, Gravesend DA12 1AU. View directions
Contact: Committee Section
Items
No. |
Item |
6. |
Apologies for absence
Minutes:
No apologies for absence were received.
|
7. |
To sign the minutes of the previous meeting PDF 140 KB
Minutes:
The minutes of the meeting of the Overview
Scrutiny Committee held on Thursday 08 June 2023 were agreed and
signed by the Chair.
|
8. |
To declare any interests which members may have on the items contained on this agenda. When declaring an interest members must state what their interest is.
Minutes:
No
declarations of interest were made.
|
9. |
Call Ins - Item called in from the Cabinet meeting on Monday, 26 June 2023; Item 7 - Events Review
The Chair of the Overview
Scrutiny Committee has called in the following item for the meeting
on Thursday, 06 July 2023, 7:30pm: -
Item 7: Events Review
Reason:
·
To examine the impact of the proposed
savings.
·
To determine how far the recommendations will
support the growth of the local economy.
Cabinet
Member: Cllr Lauren Sullivan –
Cabinet Member, Communities
Officer:
Jamie Izzard – Director
(Communities)
(Please ensure you have access to the Cabinet agenda for 26 June
2023 previously circulated to Members)
Minutes:
In agreement with the Chair, the Committee started
with item 6 on the agenda.
The Director (Communities) presented Members with
the Events Review report. The purpose of the report was to look at
the expenditure of events that were across a number of different
teams, such as Leisure, Town Centre and Community
Engagement.
Through this review, they were able to identify a
total £103k in savings, reduced from the general fund.
£40k of these savings were against previous underspends and
the cancellation of small events. The remaining £63k was
saved by moving expenditure from the general budget to the
Enterprise Zone and using this to fund certain activities. Some
events relied upon sponsorship, such as the fireworks, with Swale
being the previous sponsor. However, work was being done to secure
a new sponsorship.
The Director (Communities) and Cllr Sullivan
(Cabinet Member for Community and Leisure) fielded questions from
the committee and explained the following:
-
The measurement of success from events was not
strictly an economic outcome. There are social measurements,
alongside measures such as footfall data which provided evidence
that such events were increasing in attendance.
-
Previously, the Christmas events had been spread
across a longer period of time, and this had demonstrated little
impact on footfall in 2022. With a bigger event in the space of one
weekend, footfall numbers were likely to increase.
-
The economic measurements of success were not just
based on the success of local businesses, but through increasing
the number of visitors to the borough. This could be measured
through a partnership with Visit Kent, and thus widening that
economic impact.
-
The remaining events were based on footfall data. If
the data was low, it was less likely for these events to go ahead.
A public consultation had not been held in relation to the proposed
budget reduction.
-
Under the new budgets, the Gravesham in Bloom event
was not going to be funded other than through the town dressing
element.
-
The cost of staffing was not included within the
budgets. The core events team consists of 3 to 4 members of
staff.
-
As a one-off grant, community organisations can
apply for grant funding.
-
The aim wouldn’t be to only strive for social
outcomes but to move towards better economic ones through reviewing
the timing of events, and encouraging businesses to stay open and
benefit from them.
-
Gravesham Borough Council will not always be the
provider of local events, but they can help enable smaller events
to take place.
-
A review was done on the charging structure of
public spaces, but they were not currently looking to make a
profit, but instead were looking to reclaim those
spaces.
-
Most complaints relating to events were regarding
noise, which needed to be taken into account.
-
The Director (Communities) was confident that the
events team, as well as other member of staff, were well equipped
to deal with the proposed event review. Additional funding for
staff overtime was not included in the budget.
-
When members expressed confusion regarding the
...
view the full minutes text for item 9.
|
10. |
Future Scrutiny Topic Reviews
Minutes:
The committee held a brief decision on topics
for scrutiny review and suggested the following:
- Green Spaces – In
specific spaces that were owned by Kent County Council. The review
would explore the ways in which the spaces were being used and/or
neglected. The focus of the review was encouraging the use of green
spaces and tree planting.
- Post Pandemic Domestic
Violence – Specifically relating to the breakdown of
families and the impact this has on children and their wellbeing,
education and sleep.
- Cleaning Up Urban Areas
– A review would explore the ways in which cleanliness in the
rural areas of the borough could be improved.
- Engagement with Planning
Services – Councillors were contacted frequently
regarding planning applications; a review would look into the
engagement with planning issues.
- Governance Framework of
Rosherville Ltd – A review would include looking into the
governance framework of Rosherville Ltd ensuring it was fit and
robust enough to succeed in the future.
The abovementioned topics would be presented
to Management Team for consideration.
|