Agenda item

Report of the Cabinet Member Development and Safety

The Cabinet Member Development and Safety introduced the report which recommended an amendment to the Corporate Advertising and Sponsorship policy and the engagement of an advertising agency to develop and manage advertising opportunities for council assets. He explained that further to the consultation it was felt that more explanation was required in the policy as follows :

Additional paragraph at the beginning of the background section, by way of explanation:

Officers have been working on increasing corporate sponsorship and advertising revenue following establishing the policy in 2012. In the process, members were concerned that, in opening it up to potentially a wider range of advertisers, the current policy did not prevent advertisement of sexual establishments as defined by the Local Government (miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1982 or any other events of an overtly sexual nature. As such, a revision to the policy is proposed to make this clear.

A footnote would be added to the policy which says :

No advertising of any sexual establishments as defined by the Local Government (miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1982 or any other events of an overtly sexual nature, in accordance with the Council’s Sexual Entertainment Venues Policy and the Advertising Agency standards.

The Cabinet Member explained that when the policy was adopted in 2012 four Corporate Advertising and Sponsorship recommendations were approved that covered :

·         The approval of the introduction of the Advertising and Sponsorship policy and procedures:

·         Management of revenue from advertising and sponsorship

·         The Cabinet Member Development and Safety approval of the list of council assets appropriate for advertising and sponsorship opportunities, developed by the Advertising and Sponsorship Task Group

·         Delegated authority to the Director of Resources to tender for and select a specialist marketing agency to source and generate opportunities for the council.

The Cabinet Member reported that since then much progress had been made and outlined the information laid down in the appendices- market testing (Appendix A), Key Performance Indicators (Appendix B), List of Assets (Appendix C) and detailed policy in Appendix E.

Members were now asked to approve the amended policy. The Cabinet Member said that when the Council adopted the policy it was ground breaking for the Council to use its assets to maximise income and had generated significant interest. He hoped that there would be no false starts and that the policy would be successful and contribute to CBC finances without overly affecting the Council assets being used.

RESOLVED THAT

1.    an amendment to the Advertising & Sponsorship policy be approved to include a clause to explicitly prohibit agreements with organisations involved in business of a sexual nature.

2.    an amendment to the Advertising & Sponsorship policy be approved to include a clause to explicitly prohibit agreements with organisations whose advertising content is of a sexual nature.

3.    authority be delegated to the Director of Resources to tender for and select a specialist marketing agency to source and generate advertising and sponsorship opportunities for the council, in line with the terms set out in the amended Advertising & Sponsorship policy.

4.    the comments on the corporate and community plan implications and environmental implications be noted and that it be requested that they be taken into account and addressed, as far as possible, within the procurement process.