Agenda item

Interview with Jennifer Hunt, Local Economy Project Officer, about Maidstone Town Team.

Jennifer Hunt, Local Economy Project Officer, was invited to speak on item 10: Events Review- Maidstone Town Team.

The committee considered a presentation from Jennifer Hunt about Maidstone Town Team; the key points of which are summarised below:

·  Maidstone applied to be a ‘Portas Pilot’ town, but did not receive funding;

·  The momentum from the bid was used to create the Maidstone Town Team;

·  Maidstone Town Team had two key sponsors- Town Centre Management and Maidstone Borough Council;

·  There were three subgroups within the town team that covered:

o  Marketing

o  Regeneration

o  Events

·  The Town Team had access to the following funds:

o  A £10,000 grant from the Department for Communities and Local Government

o  An initial £30,000 from Maidstone Borough Council underspend

o  A additional £40,000 from the Maidstone Borough Council underspend

o  £40,000 of Section 106 money from the Next development at Junction 7 of the M20

·  Most of this funding had already been allocated to projects via the various subgroups; and

·  Maidstone Town Team were unincorporated at the time, which had led to difficulties in obtaining insurance and entering into contracts. However it had been decided that the Town Team would become a Community Interest Company (CIC) which would operate at arm’s length from the council.

A member of the committee asked whether there was scope for other groups to join the Town Team CIC. In response to this, Jennifer Hunt stated that this was a possibility.

The committee enquired what the meaning of ‘Regeneration’ was in terms of the Town Team sub group. The committee questioned the value of spending money on regeneration when Maidstone town centre had performed strongly compared to other competing high streets. Jennifer Hunt explained that whilst Maidstone town centre had performed strongly; it was important to continuously improve the town centre in order to prevent stagnation and eventual decline. An example of a project undertaken by the Regeneration sub group was ‘Light Up Maidstone’; a project to light up the Town Hall using floodlights.

A member of the committee wanted to find out how, when putting on events, Jubilee Square can be viewed as a ‘containable area’ by the Police and the SAG. Jennifer Hunt responded to the committee that for events held by the Town Team this was not an issue. This was because the numbers of people involved in events were relatively low and events were generally held between 1030 and 1730 when access roads to Jubilee Square are restricted. However it is more of a problem if the council is holding events, for example the Christmas lights switch on event, as roads have to be closed due to the numbers of people attending in the event.

A member of the committee asked whether there were any plans to organise activities throughout the town, for example at County Square. Jennifer Hunt conveyed that the Town Team were looking at other locations to hold events as they are trying to develop footfall to other areas of the town.

As this was the final piece of evidence to be received for the review, Clare Wood, Policy and Performance Officer, confirmed the draft recommendations that would be in the review. These were as follows:

·  That the Committee supports the compiling of an Events Calendar by the Cabinet member for Economic & Commercial Development.

·  That once in place the Events Tool-kit be used for all regular events that happen in the borough that receive funding from the Council.

·  That, once in place, the tool-kit be publicised to event promoters and those who have held events in the borough in the past three years. 

·  That a debriefing should happen with the relevant Head of Service following each Council funded event to capture feedback and understand what lessons can be learnt.   

·  That the Events Manager works with Maidstone Area Arts Partnership to create a tool-kit for smaller events including a matrix to determine which tool-kit should be used for each event.

·  That the event documents should be reviewed with the aim of creating an Events Pack for anyone wishing to hold an event which includes a checklist.

·  That where MBC provide funding for an event, it should take on the role of Event Organiser (and the legalities set out above involved in this) and delegates the event management to a responsibly persons.

·  That an Event forum is set up to facilitate better sharing on information between the relevant event organisations/partners.

·  That consideration is given to resurrecting the database of leisure and cultural based organisations, including the possibility of sharing the maintenance and administration of this database with another agency.

·  That the possibility of sending out an Events Pamphlet with the Annual Council Tax bill be investigated for 2015 and beyond. 

·  That the feasibility of extending sharing arrangements with items from Maidstone attractions and events used at different locations/events to promote and signpost to the attraction is investigated, for example having a piece from Kent Life displayed at the Hazlitt.

·  That a mechanism for signposting people in the Town Centre to events happening elsewhere in the borough be introduced.

·  That arrangements for hiring event equipment, when it is not in use, to partners and other event providers in the borough be investigated; and 

·  That the council should compile a list of all the event equipment it holds and publish this list accordingly, and encourage other event organisers/providers to do the same. 

RESOLVED: That

a)  The evidence given by Jennifer Hunt in relation to the review topic be noted.

b)  The initial recommendations (listed above) be used to draft the final report for the events review.