Agenda item - Chairs Communications

3.1       The Chair gave the following communications:

 

“First Meeting of the Tourism Development and Culture Committee

 

I would like to welcome everyone to the first meeting of the Tourism, Development & Culture Committee which has replaced the ED&C committee.

 

This change was agreed at the Last Full Council to reflect the importance that the tourist and visitor economy have to the overall economic well-being of the City, and the fact that we also have the Policy, Resources & Growth Committee overseeing the city economic growth and regeneration agenda.

 

I note that we have several new Members to the Committee and would like to welcome you on board and hope that you will find this to be an interesting and engaging committee. I would also like to take the opportunity to welcome the appointment of the new programme director for arts, culture and tourism, Val Birchall, who is joining us from 1 July, and who I know will make a very positive contribution to the work of the committee.

 

I will now highlight some notable events and activities that have taken place since the last committee meeting or are forthcoming, but I will ask for the full details to be recorded in the minutes.

 

Highlights from Visit Brighton are marketing initiatives promoting the city as a “London Plus” destination, a 50,000 print run of a Shopping, Eating and Drinking Guide, and a double-page spread in BBC Good Food magazine. We had the largest number of events in the country for English Tourism Week. We have had 5 major conferences confirmed in the last 2 months. We exhibited at IMEX in Frankfurt in May and will exhibit at the important UK Meetings Show In Olympia in July. Members of Visit Brighton and myself attended the Brighton and Hove hoteliers meeting on 10th May, and were able to update the association on these Visit Brighton activities.

 

Other important events for the committee to note are that the Trustees have been appointed to the Shadow Board for the Cultural Trust for Brighton and Hove into which the management of Royal Pavilion and Museums will move next year. The members of the shadow board are; (Chair) Glynn Jones, Jane Weeks, Michael Beddingfield, Tim Aspinall, Julian Crampton representing the Royal Pavilion and Museums Foundation, Danny Homan representing Brighton Dome and Brighton Festival, councillors Phelim Mac Cafferty and Ann Norman and myself. The trustees all have experience of serving as trustees for cultural organisations including the museum sector and in some cases of working in museums.

 

The Royal Pavilion & Museums’ exhibition Fashion Cities Africa was shortlisted in the best temporary or touring exhibition category for the Museum and Heritage 2017 awards, which was a chance to celebrate the RPM’s excellent work.

 

On 25 May I attended the opening of the Museum Mentors Artist Showcase in Museum Lab at Brighton Museum which ran until 30th May. Museum Mentors is a Royal Pavilion & Museums project, funded by Arts Council England, which supports up to 30 adults from the local community who manage challenges associated with disability.A special event was held on Friday 5th May to mark the opening of the new section of the Royal Pavilion Garden. The historic Royal Pavilion Garden is the only fully restored Regency garden in Britain.  Originally designed in the first quarter of the 19th century, it is inspired by nature and informal in style, with both native plants and those brought back by plant-hunters from overseas. The garden is maintained on organic principles, and a recent development has enabled RPM to make the garden more sustainable. Please read the minutes for the details of this work which has been developed by Head Gardener Robert Hill-Snook, supporting project lead Kris Wilding. Kris is one of RPM’s Functions Stewards, who is participating via the nationally-recognised Workforce Development Programme for front-of-house staff. 

 

There are a couple of other items to note for the committee.

 

Major Projects Update

 

As we are now the Tourism, Development & Culture Committee we have not included the major projects update in the report for this committee.  In practice reports on major projects always go to Policy, Resources & Growth Committee for decision.  However, I am happy to hear your views and suggestions on how we can keep members of this committee updated on major projects and so I will arrange a meeting with the committee spokespersons to decide between us on the best way to achieve this.

 

But in the meantime I would like to note that the new Volks Station has now been winched into place, the zip-wire is planned to open in time for the school holidays and the i360 has won three awards including Project of the Year from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, and has also just been named as one of the UK’s best new buildings by RIBA. I would also like to note the re-opening of the Saltdean Lido and congratulate the CIC on their achievement.

 

Voluntary management of estate agents and lettings boards in the Lewes Road Area – Pilot

 

And finally I would like to update you about an important issue on which residents have campaigned. In November last year the committee agreed that there should be a year long pilot scheme for the voluntary management of estate agents and lettings boards in the Lewes Road Area. I can confirm that the pilot scheme has now commenced and it will be focused in the Coombe Road Area.

 

The main focus of the Pilot is a Voluntary Code of Good Practice promoting replacement of standard boards with internal window adverts or size-limited wall mounted boards.

 

In terms of implementation - all estate and letting agents known to be working in the area have been contacted about the scheme and asked to take this approach. Officers have been working with Strategic Housing Partners including the Southern Landlords Association on the scheme; and the pilot has been supported by the Brighton & Hove Estate Agent Association and the Universities and Rent Smart group. There has also been work with residents as well with officers going to the next Coombe Road Area Local Action Team meeting to encourage community involvement. To raise awareness of the pilot scheme – a dedicated webpage has been launched which sets out how to get involved.  There will be ongoing work with agents on the pilot scheme through the course of the year in an effort to ensure the success of the scheme

 

VisitBrighton updates:

 

Marketing updates:

 

•      We have partnered with London Visitor and London Planner magazines giving Brighton monthly coverage promoting the city as a key ‘London Plus’ destination. Each magazine has a circulation of 100,000 and they are stocked in hotels and train stations in the capital.

•           The VisitBrighton Blog has now been moved into the main site which will help improve the search engine optimisation of www.visitbrighton.com. Partners are welcome to contribute as guest bloggers.

•           The Shopping, Eating & Drinking Guide was released with an initial print run of 50,000, this has been positively received.

•           Our German PR agency generated 630,601 euros worth of PR, the UK AVE figure which is: £460,770. Highlights include a double-page spread in BBC Good Food magazine as well as features in Psychologies; Red and Town & Country magazines.

•           In the last three months we have hosted 14 journalists as well as an additional 25 international journalists during the ExploreGB event.

 

English Tourism Week:

 

•           Great opportunity for different bodies to work collaboratively to promote the city.

•           Over the course of the week there were 92 events and 55 special offers. This was the largest amount of any destination, including London! This fact was highlighted by VisitEngland.

•           The ETW Twitter competition #BrightonLuckyDip had approximately 1.3 million impressions – this is the number of times the # was seen – and over 100 entries.

•           Increased exposure across the city for the VisitBrighton brand particularly on the Ship Street bus and at Brighton Station.

•           VisitEngland promoted offers and events on their website; social media and PR.

 

Conference Wins – confirmed in the last two months;

 

·                     Chartered Institute of Library & Information Professionals Annual Conference: 8-11 July 2018 x600 delegates)

 

·                     UNISON Health Conference: 4-8 April 2020 and 2024 – x2 year deal (x500 delegates at each conference)

 

·                     UNISON Women’s Conference: 17 – 20 February 2021                                                                       (x500 delegates)

 

·                     UNISON LGBT Conference: 17-21 November 2021                                                                               (x450 delegates)

 

·                     British Association for Supported Employment: 8 – 9 November 2017 (x300 delegates)

 

Forthcoming Activity

 

·                     VisitBrighton and the Brighton Centre are exhibiting on the VisitBritain stand at IMEX in Frankfurt over the dates of 16-18 May 2017

 

IMEX in Frankfurt is one of the key exhibitions in the meetings and events industry and brings together conference organisers and planners from all across the globe. We will be in attendance to raise the profile of Brighton and its diverse leisure/business offering to new and existing clients.

 

·                     VisitBrighton will be exhibiting at the UK Meetings Show in July 2017. This will be our 4th year in attendance at the Show in Olympia and this year we will be joined by our venues partners: AMEX Stadium, Hilton Metropole, Brighton Dome, The Grand and Jurys Inn The Waterfront.

 

This is a key domestic MICE trade show and one that has a proven track record in generating new business for the city.

 

Major Projects Update

 

As we are now the Tourism, Development & Culture Committee we have not included the major projects update in the report for this committee. In practice reports on major projects always go to Policy, Resources & Growth Committee for decision. However, I am happy to hear your views and suggestions on how we can keep members of this committee updated on major projects and so I will arrange a meeting with the committee spokespersons to decide between us on the best way to achieve this.

 

Cultural Trust – Formation of the Shadow Board – appointment of Trustees

 

Trustees have been appointed to the Shadow board for the Cultural Trust for Brighton and Hove into which the management of Royal Pavilion and Museums will move next year. The members of the shadow board are; (Chair) Glynn Jones, Jane Weeks, Michael Beddingfield, Tim Aspinall, Julian Crampton representing the Royal Pavilion and Museums Foundation, Danny Homan representing Brighton Dome and Brighton Festival, councillors Phelim Mac Cafferty and Ann Norman and myself. The trustees all have experience of serving as trustees for cultural organisations including the museum sector and in some cases of working in museums.

 

Museum and Heritage Awards – attendance in London

 

There are relatively few prizes recognising excellence in museums in the UK sector. It was a coup for Royal Pavilion & Museums to have its exhibition Fashion Cities Africa shortlisted in the best temporary or touring exhibition category for the 2017 awards. This was a ground-breaking show, the first in the UK dedicated to contemporary African fashion, which ran from 30th April 2016 to 8th January 2017 at Brighton Museum, and encompassed international partnerships and collaboration with local BME communities. Sadly it didn’t win, but the Awards ceremony in London on 17 May was a chance to celebrate RPM’s excellent work and recognise the extraordinary richness and impact of projects across the UK museum sector.

 

Museum Lab event

 

On 25 May I attended the opening of the Museum Mentors Artist Showcase in Museum Lab at Brighton Museum which ran until 30th May. Museum Mentors is a Royal Pavilion & Museums project, funded by Arts Council England, which supports up to 30 adults from the local community who manage challenges associated with disability. Museum Mentors is a place where people, ideas, art, objects and stories connect, and the group’s collective aim is to promote diversity, and give value, opportunity, choice and independence to those involved.

Through the temporary display Museum Mentors members were invited to share their creative ideas and artistic responses to the Royal Pavilion, its garden and objects on display in Brighton Museum. Part of the presentation was an opportunity for member Eiffion Ashdown to showcasing a selection of bulldog collectibles from his personal collection of over 4,000 pieces.

 

Opening of the new section of the Garden

A special event was held on Friday 5^th May 11:00am – 12:00pm.

The historic Royal Pavilion Garden is the only fully restored Regency garden in Britain. Originally designed in the first quarter of the 19^th century, it is inspired by nature and informal in style, with both native plants and those brought back by plant-hunters from overseas.

 

The garden is maintained on organic principles.

 

A recent development has enabled RPM to make the garden more sustainable:

 

·         New leaf mould areas have been built, so that they can produce their own mould for fertiliser.

·         New compost bins have been built, to process RPM’s waste and that of local businesses.

·         A wood chipper will be used to process garden waste, meaning this can be re-used within the garden and sold on to other organisations.

·         A wormery has been created, along with a propagation area. 

·         There are three cloches full of plants propagated from the garden, with a view to selling to the public and providing seed propagation opportunities. All sales will be ploughed back into the garden.

 

This new field of work has been developed by Head Gardener Robert Hill-Snook, supporting project lead Kris Wilding. Kris is one of RPM’s Functions Stewards, who is participating via the nationally-recognised Workforce Development Programme for front-of-house staff.  This programme has enabled Kris to work one day a week with Robert in developing his skills and leading on a project, alongside studying horticulture at Stanmer Nursery. There is also a dedicated team of garden volunteers who have worked for many years to maintain the garden under Robert’s supervision. Without volunteers, RPM would not be able to achieve their aims for the garden.

 

Voluntary management of estate agents and lettings boards in the Lewes Road Area – Pilot

 

You will recall that in November last year the committee agreed that there should be a year long pilot scheme for the voluntary management of estate agents and lettings boards in the Lewes Road Area. I can confirm that the pilot scheme has now commenced and it will be focused in the Coombe Road Area.

 

The main focus of the Pilot is a Voluntary Code of Good Practice promoting replacement of standard boards with internal window adverts or size-limited wall mounted boards.

 

In terms of implementation - all estate and letting agents known to be working in the area have been contacted about the scheme and asked to take this approach. Officers have been working with Strategic Housing Partners including the Southern Landlords Association on the scheme; and the pilot has been supported by the Brighton & Hove Estate Agent Association and the Universities and Rent Smart group. There has also been work with residents as well with officers going to the next Coombe Road Area Local Action Team meeting to encourage community involvement. To raise awareness of the pilot scheme – a dedicated webpage has been launched which sets out how to get involved. There will be ongoing work with agents on the pilot scheme through the course of the year in an effort to ensure the success of the scheme.

 

B&H Hoteliers Association

 

Myself and Members of the VisitBrighton team attended the Brighton & Hove Hoteliers Association meeting on the 10^th May and informed their membership of the work and activity that had been undertaken over the past three months, this included;

·         Marketing updates

·         Updates and outcomes of English Tourism Week

·         Latest Conference Wins for the City

·         Forthcoming Activity updates

 

3.2       RESOLVED – That the contents of the Chair’s Communications be received and noted.