Agenda item

Interview with Dawn Hudd, Head of Commercial and Economic Development.

Dawn Hudd, Head of Economic and Commercial Development, was invited to speak on item 8:- Economic and Commercial Development in Maidstone.

Dawn Hudd informed the Committee that she was the newly appointed Head of Economic and Commercial Development and had been in post for two months. Dawn Hudd previously worked in a similar role at Canterbury City Council and was there for eight years.

Dawn Hudd’s first impressions of Maidstone was that she was very impressed with the assets that Maidstone possessed, including:

·  Its parks and open spaces;

·  The Museum- including the recent renovation and extension;

·  Investment in the public realm in the High Street; and

·  Its strong retail offer.

Dawn Hudd informed the Committee that her initial priorities were:

·  Filling vacant posts; and

·  Prioritising projects to balance ‘quick wins’ with more medium and long term projects and investments.

Dawn Hudd clarified that the Commercial and Economic Development Department had four unit managers:

·  Regeneration and Economic Development Manager (John Foster)

·  Parks & Leisure Manager (Jason Taylor)

·  Cultural Services Manager (vacant post)

·  Commercial Projects Manager (new post)

Dawn Hudd confirmed that the Council had filled the vacant post and new post.

Members requested that a structure chart be circulated to them after the meeting so they could better understand the structure of Dawn Hudd’s department.

The Committee asked Dawn Hudd how she could ‘sell’ any spend in her area to residents, as many of the services provided were non-statutory.

Dawn Hudd responded that she would demonstrate the economic impact and return on investment (both social and economic) for any projects. It was particularly important to highlight the importance of cultural services to contributing to good quality of life in the borough; which brings inward investment and spend through the visitor economy.

The Committee was interested to hear about the cultural events evaluation toolkit that Dawn Hudd was proposing to use to measure the impact of events in the Maidstone area. This was directly related to the Committee’s review of the value of events in Maidstone.

Dawn Hudd explained that the toolkit being proposed was a standard approach used by many different local authorities. The toolkit had the following advantages:

·  It is free;

·  It is used across the UK; and

·  It is used by funders and policymakers.

The toolkit asks a standard set of questions, for which robust data needs to be gathered over the period of the event. The toolkit then works out the economic impact and social return on investment for the event.

Members asked whether there was potential in the future for the organisation running the toolkit to start charging the Council for using the toolkit. Dawn Hudd responded that she didn’t think this would happen, but if it did it would be easy to replicate the toolkit ourselves.

Members wanted to know if it was possible to enter past events into the toolkit to see the social return on investment and economic impact of these events. Dawn Hudd informed the committee that this would not be possible as the correct data had not been gathered for these events. Dawn Hudd highlighted that there were several case studies contained on the website that demonstrate how the toolkit works.

Councillor Hogg arrived at 19:25.

RESOLVED: That:

a)  The committee note the report and verbal update given by Dawn Hudd;

b)  The organisational structure of Dawn Hudd’s department be circulated to members of the committee;

c)  The web address and case studies contained in the events toolkit be circulated to members; and

d)  That an update be given to the committee once the Maidstone Cultural Services Manager had been in post for three months.