Issue - meetings

Report of the Cabinet Member Finance

RESOLVED

1.    that the preparation of an events programme to support the delivery of the Council’s 5 year strategy to grow the visitor economy that promotes Cheltenham as a world class destination be agreed.

2.    that a budget of £50,000 per annum be built into the base budget to support the delivery of a collaborative Cheltenham events programme which facilitates a mixture of high profile and community led activities and events.

3.    to commit to delivery of a community based cycling event in 2018 and agree to seek to deliver a high profile cycling event in 2019 within the context of an events programme.  Officers to bring back to Cabinet a business case for 2019 one off funding in due course.

4.    that the most effective means of the future delivery of the marketing and events programme be investigated and that a further report be brought back to Cabinet accordingly.

The Cabinet Member Finance introduced the report which considered the options around delivery of a future collaborative events programme for Cheltenham.  In this context it took lessons learnt from the 9th September 2017 Cheltenham Festival of Cycling both in terms of costs related to the delivery a of major event, importance of partnership working and funding, impact on officer resources together with whether further activities under the Cheltenham Festival of Cycling banner should be supported.

The report set out four options to deliver a joined-up events programme for all stakeholders, with a budget to extend the town’s event offer within the context of delivery of the council’s 5 year strategy to grow the visitor economy. The report sought agreement to the budgetary implications and commitment for delivery of a community based cycling event in 2018 and a one off allocation of up to £150,000 to deliver a major cycling event in 2019.  If the recommendations were agreed today then officers would bring back a business case for the latter in a future report to Cabinet.

She  concluded by expressing her thanks to all the individuals  who had contributed to making the Cheltenham Festival of Cycling such a successful event.

Members were supportive of the recommendations. They felt that the Festival of Cycling had been very well supported despite the weather and could be even more successful in the future. It was recognised that the resource requirement would be too high to put on such a high profile event every year therefore it was important to build in extra capacity which the additional budget would facilitate.

RESOLVED

1.    that the preparation of an events programme to support the delivery of the Council’s 5 year strategy to grow the visitor economy that promotes Cheltenham as a world class destination be agreed.

2.    that a budget of £50,000 per annum be built into the base budget to support the delivery of a collaborative Cheltenham events programme which facilitates a mixture of high profile and community led activities and events.

3.    to commit to delivery of a community based cycling event in 2018 and agree to seek to deliver a high profile cycling event in 2019 within the context of an events programme.  Officers to bring back to Cabinet a business case for 2019 one off funding in due course.

4.    that the most effective means of the future delivery of the marketing and events programme be investigated and that a further report be brought back to Cabinet accordingly.