Agenda and minutes

Apologies were received from Councillor Simon Wheeler.

Agreement of minutes of meeting held on 5 September 2011

The minutes of the last meeting were approved and signed as a correct record.

Public questions must be received no later than 10am on the fifth working day before the date of the meeting

There were no questions or petitions.

None.

Cabinet Member Housing and Safety

Cabinet Member Finance and Community Development

Cabinet Member Sport and Culture

The Cabinet Member Housing and Safety informed members that a second bidding round had commenced for the Positive Activities Fund which aimed to deliver positive activities for young people. £13 595 remained to be allocated. The aim would be to prioritise those bids focussed on certain geographical areas which had not been addressed in the first bidding round (for example Benhall and Oakley) and on specific areas of interest. County Community Projects (CCP) was involved in the process in terms of identifying groups which should prepare bids. The Cabinet Member urged members to encourage the community groups in their wards to submit bids.

Members commented on the time which needed to be invested in submitting a bid and then in fulfilling the project monitoring report requirements. The Council also bore a cost in terms of officer time in monitoring the use of the funding. More “user friendly” documentation was sought although it was acknowledged that the successful bids had to be accountable. In response the Cabinet member recognised the issue and explained that the council was very much reliant on volunteers to be involved. The issue of the cost of CBC officer time had been raised with the county but it had said this had to be borne by the council.

The Cabinet Member Sport and Culture referred members to the briefing note on the Leisure and Culture review which had been circulated separately from the agenda. This updated members on the latest position. He informed members that the work on the Art Gallery and Museum was on schedule and piling had started for the new structure. Members were also informed that LOCOG had now announced the location of the Olympic torch relay and it would enter Cheltenham via Shurdington and exit via the Evesham Road to the racecourse. When a question was asked whether events would be taking place en route the Cabinet Member explained that the details had yet to be announced but officers would now start to talk to partner organisations and local communities about what would be appropriate. In response to a question on whether the town would be granted funds to offset the cost of the evening event to be staged at the racecourse, the Cabinet member explained that a successful bid had been put in for the event to the Promoting Cheltenham Fund for both the torch relay and the celebration event.

Presentation by the Chief Executive, Cheltenham Festivals

Donna Renney, Chief Executive, Cheltenham Festivals (CF), gave her presentation which is attached to these minutes for information.

Members asked about whether the two box offices (Regent Arcade and the mobile box office) had caused confusion. The Chief Executive, CF, acknowledged that it had been difficult. She acknowledged that the Regent Arcade box office was probably surplus to requirements and in fact its location had limited footfall. In any case 65 % of bookings were taken online. When asked whether the Regent Arcade box office was overstaffed the Chief Executive explained that there were peaks and troughs so it was about getting the balance right. This was the first year of this arrangement so lessons would be learnt from this.

In terms of ticketing problems the Chief Executive explained that the issue was that prepaid tickets could only be collected at one site during the festival. This was to prevent customers wishing to purchase tickets during the festival from queueing for long periods for the print out of pre-paid tickets so they were all printed out at once. It was recognised that customers were confused about where and when their tickets would be available and it was suggested that in future customers could be given timeslots for collection.

A member asked whether the Chief Executive CF could provide a full report on the education plan of the business including the number of senior and junior schools from within Cheltenham which were involved. The Chief Executive undertook to forward the report. Cllr Smith informed the Chief Executive of the County Council’s Corporate Parenting Committee and invited her to contact him about bringing its interests into the Festivals Education Plan.

In terms of Festival ticket sales the Chief Executive explained that 100 events had been sold out. Production costs had however been higher than expected with the invoice for rectifying Montpellier Gardens being quite significant and the trackway had not been taken account of costings. She highlighted however that there would be an opportunity for more sponsorship, it was a question of getting the balance right. A member requested figures on which events had been sold out.

When asked whether the Festivals had received complaints regarding noise during set up, during the event and taking down, the Chief Executive explained that these were not significant but mainly focussed on the setting up where contractors were behind schedule. This was unfortunately not at the time reported by neither the security team nor the contractors. The challenge remained that there was only a limited number of days granted by the council for CF to set up and this was always going to prove difficult.

Members congratulated Cheltenham Festivals for navigating the growth phase.It was asked what the Festival’s approach was to international aspects of the Festivals. In response the Chief Executive (CF) explained that these were mainly for the science festival and it was developing consultancy contracts with Norway and Austria. It did want to develop an international presence for the music  ...  view the full minutes text for item 23.

Verbal update from Cllr McCloskey, CBC representative on committee

Councillor McCloskey updated the meeting since she last reported in February 2011. Her report is attached to these minutes for information.

In response to a question from a member Councillor McCloskey undertook to find out whether the location for the new Police premises had been finalised.

Attached is the briefing note on Amendments to Licensing Act 2003 circulated with the papers of meeting held on 5 September 2011.

The Senior Licensing Officer outlined the main amendments to the Licensing Act 2003 as set out in the briefing note. They specifically concerned regulating the sale/supply of alcohol and the provision of late night refreshment.       

Members welcomed the fact that the Council would become a responsible authority empowering them to refuse, remove or review licences themselves. This was a positive step forward but it was important that a robust mechanism for doing so was in place.

Members asked whether there was a policy in place with regard to how the process of representation and review by interested parties would be managed. In response the Senior Licensing Officer explained that any objection must be relevant under the four objectives of the Licensing Act but the Government was due to issue further guidance on the subject.

In response to a question the Licensing Officer explained that the Late Night Levy would apply to both on and off premise sales. 70 % of the fee would go to the police and 30 % to the council with the aim of reducing or preventing crime and disorder, in connection with the supply of alcohol. The Council would use the funding to provide taxi marshals for example. The Community Protection Manager added that the levy had been discussed with late night premises and the general view was that they would be happy to contribute in order to ensure that things were policed. He also added that the Council would put a policy in place once the bill had become law.

The Chair informed members that the following items scheduled for the January meeting would be postponed to the February meeting :

• CBH CTLG group
• Proscenium Building/Gardens Gallery
• Art Gallery and Museum update
• Tourism Strategy

The Vice Chair reminded members that they were entitled to put forward items for the scrutiny agenda.

Councillor Smith requested that the budget proposals be put as the first item on the January agenda to give it the focussed attention it required.

When asked what the committee was seeking to achieve by discussing antisocial behaviour the Chair explained that this related to the impact of the closure of youth facilities around the town.

The work plan would be amended accordingly.

Monday 9 January 2012

Monday 9 January 2012.