There were no apologies for absence received.

The minutes of the meeting held on Monday 25 November 2025 were signed by the Chair.

There were no declarations of interest.

The Committee received a presentation updating them on Tourism and Heritage within the borough.

A copy of the presentation was available within the agenda and could be viewed via the following link:-

(Public Pack)Supplementary Presentation - New Tavern Fort and Tourism Update Agenda Supplement for Community & Leisure Cabinet Committee, 11/03/2025 19:30

The Tourism & Heritage Manager focused on the Tourism update first and highlighted that:

• The new Gravesham tourism brand was now fully implemented and had enabled Gravesham to be marketed more widely as a destination, with collaborations and partnerships.
• Government funding had facilitated the delivery of larger campaigns and attendance at travel trade shows. 
• Grant funded support of up to £1K had been secured for Gravesham tourism and hospitality businesses, to develop their tourism offering and to take part in the Kent Big Weekend on 5 and 6 April.  This enabled businesses to provide free tickets/offers as part of the event.  It was noted that to date, there had already been 11.5K entries into the ballot for Kent Big Weekend. The ballot would remain open until 1 April.
• Members were provided with an update on what had been achieved so far with the new tourism brand, including the display of promotional posters at Southeastern platforms in Kent and London St Pancras and attendance at recent travel trade fairs.
• Starting on 17 March a 2-week promotional campaign would be taking place, with 6 second digital videos promoting Gravesham.  The advert would be played at Bluewater, London St Pancras and Stratford International.
• The latest Gravesham Visitor Economic Impact report had been released.  The Tourism & Heritage Manager outlined key headlines from the 2023 data.  The report had shown that Gravesham had made a strong recovery in terms of numbers since the pandemic with 2.2 million visitors in 2023.

The Chair invited member questions:

• Members sought clarity on the application process for the grant funding for Kent Big Weekend.  The Tourism and Heritage Manager informed the Committee that applications had been via the GBC website, plus shared with a database of local business and promoted via social media. A group of Council officers had assessed the applications received and decided which were successful in their grant bid.
• Members asked for further information as to why the travel trade shows had been so successful for the Gravesham tourism brand. The Committee were updated that the key achievement had been raising awareness and establishing contacts. It was noted that many people were not aware of Gravesham (as a Borough), which posed discussion, and was a good conduit at highlighting the different areas within the region.

The Tourism & Heritage Manager updated on Heritage:

• Members were informed that in August 2024, an external consultant and architect started research and obtained views on how the New Tavern Fort was currently used and how the offering could be improved with additional investment.  This research had involved engagement with both the community and partners in various formats including workshops, digital surveys and public events. Stakeholders were consulted and visitor studies were  ...  view the full minutes text for item 29.

The Committee were presented with an update on changes to legislation and recent work delivered relating to:

· Prevention Matters members training

· Smokefree public spaces and town centres

·Sport England Place based partnerships

· Foods High in Fat Salt and Sugar

The Health and Wellbeing Manager updated that:

• Members were recently provided with Prevention Matters training to help understand and support the health and wellbeing both nationally and locally.  Data covered areas such as obesity and smoking. The slides from the training were available within the report.  It was reported that Members attending had found Ward level data especially helpful. 

Feedback from the training had been positive with a working group created as a result of the training course.

The Health and Wellbeing Manager was working with Committee Section to look at delivering in-house training on the Wider Determinants of Health for Members and the inclusion of Making Every Contact Count (MECC) training in the online members portal, so this can be accessed at any time by Members.

• The Committee were updated on Smokefree public spaces and were informed that KCC had provided a grant to provide dedicated smoke free spaces in the town.  This would mean a reduction is cigarette litter, areas free form secondary smoke and would assist those who are trying to stop smoking.  It was noted that children who witnessed smoking when young were more likely to smoke as adults and these areas could help prevent this as a healthier example.

Members were informed of a consultation taking place with GoVocal and were encouraged to participate and provide their views. This could be found at Citizen engagement platform | Gravesham Borough Council? 

Smoke free areas would be clearly signposted. Although no smoking ban could be in place, there would be encouragement not to smoke in the designated areas with clear signage.  There would also be QR codes within signage to direct people to Kent Smokefree webpage, offering help to stop smoking.

• Members were informed that in November Sports England announced investment place-based partnerships.  Gravesham had been included in the first phase with areas identified as Northfleet North and Westcourt Wards.  These locations were determined by Sport England Active Lives and IMD data.  Funding was led by Active Kent & Medway and was a 2-stage investment process.

• The Health and Wellbeing Manager updated on the Government’s plan to tackle growing childhood obesity levels by reducing children’s exposure to marketing and promotion of Foods High in Fat Salt or Sugar (HFSS).  It was noted that the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) which was updated in December 2024, recommended that local authorities refuse applications for fast food outlets/hot food takeaways in certain cases, as set out within the report.

The Health and Wellbeing Manager highlighted that some authorities had set their own policies surrounding HFSS to help residents reduce their levels of fat, salt and sugar

The Chair queried how data was collected to determine the areas within Gravesham deemed suitable for Sport England place based partnerships. The Health and Wellbeing Manager  ...  view the full minutes text for item 30.

The Committee were presented with an update against the Performance Management Framework, as introduced within the Council’s Corporate Plan, for Quarter Three 2024-25 (October to December 2024).

The Assistant Director (Interim) Community Support outlined that the report presented data against performance indicators alongside policy commitments.

The Chair invited member questions and comments:

• Members highlighted that on page 92 within the policy commitment text, under cultural engagement, reference had been made to the temple, but this should have read mosque.  The Assistant Director (Interim) Community Support noted this for amendment.
• The Chair requested that reporting on the Lawn Tennis Association (LTA) initiative could be included within Healthy living section in the next quarter.  She noted it was a very good initiative and would be useful to capture.

The Committee noted the report