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 they did with Shorne Country Park.