There were no apologies.

There were no Substitute Members.

There were no urgent items.

There were no Visiting Members.

There were no disclosures by Members or Officers.

There were no disclosures of lobbying.

RESOLVED:  That all items be taken in public as proposed.

RESOLVED:  That the minutes of the meeting held on 5 March 2019 be approved as a correct record and signed.

There were no petitions.

There were no questions from members of the public.

The Committee discussed the items on the Work Programme and made the following change:-

·  Museums – Agreeing the ‘Story of Maidstone’ was moved to July.

The Chairman confirmed that he had started to produce a short report on the work that had been accomplished by the Committee and would circulate a draft by email as soon as possible.

RESOLVED:  That the Committee Work Programme, as amended, be agreed.

The Chairman indicated that he intended to take Agenda Item 16 - the Cemetery Improvements Update before Agenda Item 12 – Museum Governance Review Annual Update.

Mr William Cornall, the Director of Regeneration and Place, presented the Cemetery Improvements Update to the Committee.

Mr Cornall highlighted to the Committee that:

·  Due to the overspend on the capital fund for the car parking works, the project would need to be re-profiled.

·  The car park expansion would be delayed to Phase 2.

·  As the staff welfare facilities were unlikely to be in place until Autumn 2019, work had been undertaken to improve the existing facilities, which included a deep clean and new furniture.

In response to a question from the Committee, Mr Cornall responded that the Cemetery Lodge would be subject to an enforcement issue for non-upkeep.

The Committee thanked Officers for all their hard work on this project and looked forward to the Chapel being renovated.

RESOLVED:  That

1.  That the continued delivery of the Cemetery improvements through a two phased approach be agreed.

2.  That the car park expansion be delayed until Phase 2 of the improvements.

3.  That £70,000 surplus income generated by Bereavement Services and Grounds Maintenance in 2018/19 be used to support the remaining capital budget for the project.

Voting:  Unanimous

Mr John Foster, the Head of Regeneration and Economic Development, presented the Museum Governance Review Annual Update to the Committee.

Mr Foster highlighted to the Committee that:-

1.  The report looked at options to take the project forward which would include preparing a large scale bid to the National Lottery Heritage Fund.

If the bid was successful this would enable the vision as laid out in the 20 Year Plan to be realised. However, there was a two stage process to the bid for funding, stage 1 could take two years and even if the bid progressed through stage 1, there was no guarantee that stage 2 would also be successful and the whole process, including completion of all the works, could take approximately 5 years.

2.  The Museums Director and the Employer Agent would work together to explore costs to create the spaces to tell the story of Maidstone at the Museum.

During the ensuing discussion, Committee Members made the following comments:-

·  That it would be too early to make a decision on whether to go for the National Lottery Heritage Fund bid, the Committee should wait until the costings have been drawn up.

·  That it was important that assurances were given by officers to the timescales involved and that a report would come back in September to the Committee.

RESOLVED:  That

1.  The findings of the Employers Agent be reported to this Committee in July setting out the proposed new internal gallery spaces, improvements to accessibility and costs.

2.  A report on the proposed galleries content, designs and costs be presented to Committee in September.

Voting:  Unanimous

The Committee considered the report of Ms Anna Collier, the Policy and Information Manager, which set out a draft set of performance indicators for the consideration of the Committee.

The Committee made the following recommendations to Policy and Resources Committee:-

·  That the footfall at the Museum indicator be targeted to reflect seasonality.

·  The indicator relating to ‘Number of green flag parks’ should reflect  that the Council wanted to retain the 5 green flags it held, not increase them.

·  The indicator ‘Number of people using parks and open spaces’ should be deleted

·  An additional indicator be included  ‘Actual Spend of Section 106 money’

·  An additional indicator should be included ‘Maintenance per Acre or Hectare Spent on Parks and Open Spaces’.

·  An additional indicator should be included ‘Attendance at Events in the Museum’ to showcase the diversity of the events at the Museum.

·  An additional indicator should be included on the use of the Visit Maidstone site

In response to questions from Members, Officers replied that:-

·  Officers were still discussing an appropriate target for  ‘Percentage of fly tips with evidential value which result in enforcement action’ based on what was achieved last year

·  Hits on the Visit Maidstone site was not the best method for measuring use of the site but officers would review options and select the best method to reflect useage.

RESOLVED:  That the following additions/amendments be recommended to Policy and Resources Committee:-

1.  That the footfall at the Museum indicator be targeted to reflect seasonality.

2.  The indicator relating to ‘Number of green flag parks’ should reflect  that the Council wanted to retain the 5 green flags it held, not increase them.

3.  The indicator ‘Number of people using parks and open spaces’ should be deleted

4.  An additional indicator be included  ‘Actual Spend of Section 106 money’

5.  An additional indicator should be included ‘Maintenance per Acre or Hectare Spent on Parks and Open Spaces’.

6.  An additional indicator should be included ‘Attendance at Events in the Museum’ to showcase the diversity of the events at the Museum.

7.  An additional indicator should be included on the use of the Visit Maidstone site

Voting:  Unanimous

The Chairman introduced the report on the findings of the workshop held on 17^th January 2019.

In order to define the priorities for the next municipal year the Committee felt that it would be opportune to hold another workshop during the last two weeks of May. 

RESOLVED:  That

1.  The results of the workshop set out in Appendix 1 to the report be noted.

2.  A workshop be held during the last two weeks of May to refine the priorities to 5-10 areas which would become the workplan for the 19/20 municipal year.

3.  That the preliminary findings set out in Appendix 1 of the report be shared with other Committee Chairmen and Vice-Chairmen.

Mrs Laura Dickson, the Visitor Economy and Events Development Manager, presented a report on the Tourism Destination Management Plan 2015-2018.

Mrs Dickson highlighted that:-

·  The Committee agreed in November 2018 that the Destination Management Plan should be reviewed and a new one year rolling action plan developed which was attached as Appendix A to the report.

·  The original plan was analysed through a series of industry consultations, surveys and workshops looking at developments and changes since 2015, including the recent Economic Impact of Tourism in Maidstone report.

·  Workshops were held by Blue Sail, the Destination Management Consultants, on 6^th February 2019 which was attended by key businesses from all parts of the tourism sector.  Members also attended a consultation workshop on the same day.

The Committee made the following comments:-

·  That the type of events held at the Amphitheatre should be in consideration of the residents of the alms houses that are behind the facility.

·  That the town should focus on being walker and cyclist friendly and provide the necessary facilities.

RESOLVED:  That the new one year rolling action plan for the Tourism Destination Management Plan be adopted.

Voting:  Unanimous

The Chairman thanked Councillor Mrs Wilson for her valued contribution to the work of this Committee over the years and said that her commitment and involvement would be greatly missed.

6.30 p.m. to 7.25 p.m.