There were no apologies for absence. 

The minutes of the meeting on Thursday, 11 November 2021were signed by the Chair.

Cllr Shane Mochrie-Cox and Cllr Peter Scollard declared interests as they were appointed representatives to the Gr@nd.

Progress was reported to Members, on the delivery of the Tourism and Heritage Strategy's objectives, the achievements and challenges of the past year and the aims for the year to come.

The Tourism & Town Twinning Manager advised that in February 2020 Gravesham’s Tourism and Heritage Strategy was reported to the Cabinet Committee and subsequently adopted by the Cabinet Member for Community & Leisure. An action plan to deliver the objectives set out in the strategy was then created by the Tourism & Town Twinning Manager.

The Tourism & Town Twinning Manager went through sections 3,4 and 5 of the report in detail outlining key points regarding what had been achieved so far via the Experience Project, the challenges that the team had faced and upcoming projects.

Members were shown an example of an AR (Augmented Reality) Town Centre Historic Trail that had been created and was accessible on phones via Instagram and Facebook; it was called ‘In Gravesham Footstep’. The QR codes to access the AR Trail would be appearing to the public in the next week.

The Chair praised the progress made considering the effect Covid had on the projects and paid tribute to last week’s light festival in Gravesend which was a huge hit and drew large numbers to the town.

In response to a Member concerns that the local coffee shops did not remain open during the lights festival, the Service Manager (Customer & Theatre Services) explained that she was equally surprised that they weren’t open later. The most likely reason for the closure was the event being the first of its kind and the shop owners being unsure of the turnout; the Service Manager (Customer r& Theatre Services) was confident that the local coffee shops would remain open later at next years event. The restaurants and bars that were open that weekend reported really good sales on Saturday and Sunday with a much higher customer base than normal.

Concern was raised by Cllr Aslam regarding parking at Trosely Park in Vigo over the summer; it was great to see so many people using the public park, but the number of cars parked everywhere caused distress to local residents. It was suggested that the Council work with Vigo Parish Council to engage with local residents more to help them understand that use of the park for was good for the local economy and public health; Cllr Aslam was happy to work with the Council to deliver that engagement. Additionally, Cllr Aslam asked that a different image be used for the McDonalds section of the AR app as the Victorian image currently in use was submissive and could unintentionally remind some people of child workers in Asia.

The Tourism & Town Twinning Manager agreed to raise Cllr Aslam’s concern with the creators of the AR app.

The Chair advised that Trosley Park was a country park managed by KCC; he asked officers to liaise with KCC regarding the parking issue to see if KCC were able to invest in more parking there as  ...  view the full minutes text for item 26.

GYG Hate Crime Presentation

GYG Hate Crime Presentation

The Committee were given a presentation by Gifted Young Gravesham (GYG) on Hate Crime.

The Senior Youth Worker and the GYG Chair outlined background information on Gifted Young Gravesham and their project on Hate Crime to Members. The issue of hate crime was consistently raised at the GYG Committee meetings, and its Members decided they would do something about it; regular meetings were held with all eight headteachers in the Borough and they collaborated with GYG and a producer to create a video to combat hate crime in schools. The Head Teachers were very proud of the video, and it was the only piece of work that all eight headteachers had ever collaborated on together.

The Committee were shown the video by GYG which had been created to combat hate crime in schools.

The Chair thanked the GYG for showcasing the video which conveyed a powerful message; the Committee offered to assist the GYG in getting the message out to as many people as possible.

Members of the Committee thanked the GYG for the video and several Members shared their own experiences with hate crime.

The GYG Chair outlined that one of the key points of the video was that it wasn’t just the responsibility of the victim to report hate crime, the witnesses to any and all hate crimes should report it as well.

In response to Members questions, the GYG Members and the Senior Youth Worker explained that:

·       The video had not been viewed by students yet; there will be a whole week dedicated to combatting hate crime the first week after February half term and the video will be launched to all secondary schools in the Borough during that week

·       There is a problem in schools of students not knowing who to report to or where their information was then forwarded on; during a meeting with the Head Teachers, they were informed of the confusion around reporting, and they all realised that better reporting mechanisms needed to be put in place.  The same reporting mechanism couldn’t be used across all eight schools as it was too expensive; as a result each schools different style of reporting system was identified by GYG

·       The head teachers requested that the next step was for GYG to create resources that could be placed in schools and used to raise awareness of hate crime and encourage reporting of hate crimes. GYG intended to create five podcasts, one for each of the five types of hate crimes, with each being one minute long; a victim of each type of hate crime would talk about their experience on one of the podcasts. Those podcasts would then be distributed to all secondary schools in the Borough and played during students PSHE time with questions about the podcasts written on the classroom board. The podcasts would make the students listen to experiences of hate crime and gets them thinking about the effect hate crime had on students

·       By the end of hate  ...  view the full minutes text for item 27.

To move, if required, that pursuant to Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972 that the public be excluded from any items included in Part B of the agenda because it is likely in view of the nature of business to be transacted that if members of the public are present during those items, there would be disclosure to them of exempt information as defined in Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Act.

Part B
Items likely to be considered in Private

The Chair moved that pursuant to Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972 that the public be excluded from any items included in Part B of the agenda because it was likely in view of the nature of business to be transacted that if members of the public were present during those items, there would be disclosure to them of exempt information as defined in Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Act.

The Committee were provided with a Summary of Key Findings and Recommendations of the latest annual Strategic Assessment prepared on behalf of the Gravesham Community Safety Partnership (CSP).

The Strategic Manager (CSU) went through the Summary in detail for Committee Members:

·       The Summary provided Members with a breakdown of the key findings of the Assessment in respect of levels of crime, disorder and other issues pertinent to community safety

·       It highlighted changes in crime and antisocial behaviour and the Borough’s position against that of other Kent Districts and Medway

·       It concluded with recommendations that had been adopted by the CSP and that would form part of its prioritised work programme over the next 12 months.

Members had their questions answered by the Strategic Manager (CSU) and the Assistant Director (Communities).

The Strategic Manager (CSU) informed Members that the report was not the full Strategic Assessment document; the full document held a breakdown of the levels of crime in each individual ward. The Strategic Manager (CSU) asked Members to contact her if they wanted a copy of the full Assessment and reminded them that it was a confidential report.

The Chair thanked the Strategic Manager (CSU) for her detailed report.