Agenda and minutes

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 30 October 2018 be agreed as an accurate record of the meeting and signed subject to the following amendments to Minute Item 85 (MBC Festivals and Events Update 2018):

·  Deletion of the words ‘the first’ and the insertion of an ‘a’ from the sentence ‘The Committee requested that an additional event take place in 2019 in order to celebrate the 400^th Anniversary of the granting of the first charter to the Mayor of Maidstone to keep swans on the River Medway’; and

·  Deletion of the words ‘top’ and ‘together’ from the sentence ‘Once the new Culture and Arts Officer was in post, one of their top priorities should be to bring together the relevant community groups together with a view to organising a pride event’.

There were no petitions.

There were no questions from members of the public.

The Committee considered the Work Programme for 2018/19.

The following changes were made to the Work Programme:-

Update on Sports Pitches Bookings – this would now be considered in January 2019.

80^th Anniversary of the start of WWII – a report would be considered at the December meeting.

400^th Anniversary of the Charter of the Swans to Maidstone Borough Council – a report would be considered at the December 2018 meeting.

Sports Position Statement – this report was removed as it was a duplication of the Leisure Services – Scoping Report.

RESOLVED: That the Committee Work Programme be noted subject to the changes made by the Committee.

The Committee considered the report of Ms Anna Collier, Policy and Information Manager, which detailed the progress of key performance indicators for the Heritage, Culture and Leisure Committee that related to the delivery of the Strategic Plan 2015-2020.

It was noted that:-

·  4 out of the 5 targeted KPIs achieved their target, compared to 5 in quarter 1.

·  The Hazlitt Theatre sold 52.5% of all available tickets during quarter 2, against a target of 50%.

·  The target for the number of students benefitting from the Museum’s educational service was not achieved in quarter 2 but this was a seasonal trend due to the period covering the school summer holidays.

·  Footfall at the Museum and Visitor Information Centre was up to 18,448 against a target of 16,250.

·  The number of approaches to the Visitor Information Centre was 1,092 against a target of 782.

·  198,370 people, against a target of 186,079, used the facilities at the Leisure Centre during the period.

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

·  The Policy and Resources Committee was due to consider the  Vision, Priorities and Outcomes for the new Strategic Plan at its meeting on 28 November and as a result new Performance Indicators would be considered by the various Service Committees in March.  Therefore the Committee could start to consider re-profiling some of the existing performance indicators and suggest new indicators.

·  The target for the provision of the educational service needed to be re-profiled to take into account seasonal variations in demand.

·  The Museum’s Director would be asked to consider special openings for the Museum when there were events in the town centre such as the Remembrance Sunday Parade.  Higher footfall in the town centre during these events may drive greater visitor numbers at the Museum. 

RESOLVED: That

1)  The summary of performance for Quarter 2 of 2018/19 for Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) be noted.

2)  Officers profile new performance indicators across the range of services that the Committee monitor and bring back the options in January.

Voting:  Unanimous

Mrs Laura Dickson, Visitor Economy and Events Development Manager presented an update on the progress made against the three year Action Plan which related to Maidstone Borough’s Tourism Destination Management Plan.

The Committee noted that the 3 year action plan had been largely delivered but was still considered to be valid.  Officers were in discussions with Visit Kent to carry out a review of the current Destination Management Plan which also required updated figures.  The figures were due for release within the next month and would be reported to the Committee in January.

In response to questions from Members, Officers explained that:

·  A report would be considered by the Committee in January in regard to the proposed Art Installation at Maidstone East.

·  The public realm works would stop at the end of November and recommence in January to allow for the Christmas period.

·  That a light touch review of the action plan would be carried out in the new year which would be done in consultation with Members and tourism businesses through a series of workshops. 

The Vice-Chairman advised that she had attended a Parks and Open Spaces Seminar where an inspirational speaker spoke on a Natural Capital Future for Parks.  The Chairman requested that the Vice-Chairman provide a brief report on that for the next meeting.

RESOLVED:  That

1)  The update of the 3 year action plan be noted.

2)  The Tourism Destination Management Plan be reviewed and updated and a new one year rolling action plan be developed.

Voting:  Unanimous 

The Committee gave a vote of thanks to Ms Dawn Hudd, the Head of Economic Development and Regeneration for all the hard work she had carried out for the Council, in particular for the Heritage, Culture and Leisure Committee, and wished her well for the future.

6.30 p.m. to 7.10 p.m.