OVERVIEW AND SCRUTINY COMMITTEE
2 November 2016
Held at Council Chamber, Elizabeth House, Stratford-upon-AvonMeeting commenced: 9.30 a.m. Meeting ended: 11.50 a.m.
MINUTES
Present: Councillor Tony Jefferson (Chairman) Councillors J Barker, M Cargill, B Dalla Mura, J Fradgley, J Harris, M Howse, J Kerridge, C Kettle, P Moorse and E Payne
415. Disclosure of Interest
There were no disclosures of interest given.
416. Minutes of Previous Meeting
The Minutes of the meeting held on 5 October 2016 were confirmed and signed.
417. Chairman's Brief
There were no items to report.
418. Tourism promotion in Stratford District
A presentation was given by Helen Peters, Chief Executive of Shakespeare’s England, a copy of which is appended to these Minutes.
In receiving the presentation the Committee was interested to hear of the developments and activity undertaken by Shakespeare’s England recently and noted with approval the success of PR activity and the successful introduction of ‘Shakespeare’s England advertising posters’ at 150 London Underground sites.
The introduction of the new three-tiered Membership of Gold/Silver/Bronze had been well received, with many members choosing to upgrade, and the logo for Shakespeare’s England had been updated to include the words ‘visit’ and ‘Warwickshire’, in order to provide clarity.
One area that Shakespeare’s England was keen to progress was moving from purely ‘leisure’ tourism to ‘business’ tourism activities. This was with the view to encourage tourists to venture outside of Stratford Town, to book into hotels and purchase local foods and beverages in the wider district. Two successful bids had been received to introduce links for a Canal and Waterways ring between Stratford-on-Avon and Warwick, and a pilot for promoting New Place.
Following discussion the Chairman thanked Helen for her energy, drive and initiative in executing the aforementioned developments and activities, and for her informative presentation.
419. Altered Order
In the interests of the efficient conduct of the business, items were considered in a different order from that set out in the agenda. These Minutes represent the order in which they were considered.
420. Environmental Issues
This item was deferred due to officer illness.
421. Horton General Hospital, Banbury
The Chairman discussed a presentation that had been delivered by Oxfordshire Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) at a public meeting in October 2016 regarding Health and Care Transformation in Oxfordshire.
Concerns had been raised regarding staff shortages and issues surrounding services at the Horton General Hospital in Banbury, which the closest residents from Stratford District elect to use. These issues then impact upon other hospitals, and the lack of public transport if residents have to travel, were all major concerns for the Council.
Following discussion, it was requested that Oxfordshire CCG be invited to attend a meeting prior to attendance by Warwickshire CCG, who are booked for the January Overview and Scrutiny Committee (OSC) meeting, in order to receive feedback on what measures could be put in place in regard to the aforementioned concerns. It was suggested that questions be formulated in advance of presentations from both CCG’s and forwarded prior to the respective meeting, and that presentations from the CCG’s were obtained in advance and circulated with the agenda. In addition to agreement of the above, the Chairman agreed to contact Stratford-on-Avon MP, Nadhim Zahawi, and Kenilworth and Southam MP, Jeremy Wright, and that invitations be extended to Victoria Prentis (MP for Banbury) and OSC representatives from Cherwell District Council to the meeting with Oxfordshire CCG once arranged.
422. Development of a Local Strategic Economic Plan for Stratford-on-Avon District
The Executive Director (Head of Paid Service) gave a presentation on the development of a Local Strategic Economic Plan (SEP) for Stratford-on-Avon District, a copy of which is appended to these Minutes.
The presentation outlined the background and steps taken towards developing a coordinated and informed approach and detailed some of the emerging projects. It was also noted that the interim report from the Strategic Review Group to be considered at Council on 12 December 2016 would provide valuable feedback to the SEP.
During the ensuing discussion, it was enquired as to whether Warwickshire County Council took into account cycle routes when consulted on planning applications, although this was included in the Core Strategy, and the Executive Director (Head of Paid Service) assured that this was the case.
Note: Subsequent to the meeting, the wording within the Draft Stratford Area Transport Strategy was sought and aims to:
‘Provide the local conditions and infrastructure to enable cycling and walking to be a genuine alternative to car travel and the natural choice for shorter journeys within Stratford-upon-Avon and by so doing to improve the town centre environment and economic vitality of the town and make a positive contribution to the quality of life and the health and wellbeing of residents and visitors.’
423. Care Homes - Task and Finish Group Request
Following discussion, it was agreed that a Care Homes Task and Finish Group be formed, with membership of the Group to comprise of Councillors Kerridge, Howse, Fradgley, Jefferson and Payne. The Group members to attend an initial meeting in order to scope the Terms of Reference for the Group, following which an Action Plan be agreed in conjunction with Warwickshire County Council and the Planning Policy officer from Stratford-on-Avon District Council.
424. Task and Finish Groups
Affordable Housing Task and FinishThe final report of the Group was to be considered at The Cabinet meeting to be held on 7 November 2016.
5 Year Housing Supply Task and Finish GroupNo further meetings had been held since the previous update, however the recent figures had been circulated. A meeting of the Group was to be convened later in November.
Budget Task and Finish Group/Strategic Review GroupDates had been set for the Budget Task and Finish Group meetings as follows:
Wednesday 18 January 2017 at 3.00 p.m. Wednesday 25 January 2017 at 9.30 a.m. Wednesday 1 February 2017 at 9.30 a.m.
425. The Cabinet Meeting - 10 October 2016
There were no items raised.
426. The Cabinet Meeting - 7 November 2016
It was requested under this heading that an explanation be given on the Development Requirements Supplementary Planning Document referred to in Item 5 of the agenda.
Note: Subsequent to the meeting, the following clarification was obtained:
This is a Supplementary Planning Document that will set out the Council’s approach to seeking Planning Obligations from developers in relation to a range of matters, such as affordable housing, transport and parking standards, public open space, based on policies in the Core Strategy. It will also assist stakeholders in making bids for Community Infrastructure Levy receipts for required infrastructure such as education and highways, in accordance with the Infrastructure Delivery Plan.
427. Work Plan
Oxfordshire Clinical Commissioning Group to be added to the Work Plan.
428. Urgent Business
There were no items of urgent business.
CHAIRMAN
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01/11/16
1
Overview and Scrutiny Committee
Stratford District Council
Wednesday 2nd November 2016
1
Helen Peters
Chief Executive
Shakespeare’s England
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Overview
• Review since last meeting
• Recent activity
• Up coming activity
• On going Projects
• Destination Management Plan update
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Introduction
• Established in 2012, but moving into 4th year of trading
• New Board Members Chiltern Railways / Hallmark Hotels
• Private Board Members in discussion – Johnsons Coaches / London Midland / Avon Boating
• Currently have over 100 members (107)
• 47% SDC, 31% WDC, 22% WCC/Oxon/West Midlands
• 20 new Members in 2016 – 12 since last OS Meeting
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The value of tourism to the local economy
• 10.2 million trips to Shakespeare’s England
• 9.3million day trips, 0.89million overnight stays
• Overnight trips account for 2.37million room nights
• Visitors spent £505m in the area, £42m per month
• Value of tourism to local business is £631m
• Supporting 11,000 jobs
• 1 new job created from every £57k of tourist spend
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New Members in 2016
• Chiltern Railways (Board)
• The Howard Arms
• Gorgeous Obsession
• Orchestra of the Swan
• Resorts World Birmingham
• Rose & Crown, Warwick
• Shakespeare’s Distillery
• Trivia Trail
• Island Meadow Caravan Park
• Napton Fields Holiday Cottages
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• Whitewall Galleries
• Gamar Ltd
• The Lygon Arms
• Dormy House Hotel
• Foxhill Manor
• The Fish Hotel
• Alcester Food Festival
• Bespoke Stratford
• The Globe, Warwick
• Warwick Open Studios
• Exclusively Warwickshire
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Minute Item 418
01/11/16
2
Discover Shakespeare’s England – 10-11 July
Ensemble Travel Conference, USA – September
Group Travel & Leisure Show, NEC – 20 October
Q3/4 Activity - Trade Shows and Events
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Q3 /4 Activity - Consumer
Chiltern railways posters
London Underground campaign
Young Will statue
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Q3 / 4 Activity - Members
Tourism Forums British Motor Museum
Falcon Hotel
Networking Evening – Cymbeline at RST
New 3 tiered Membership – Gold / Silver / Bronze
• Enhanced website listing
• Tourism forum attendance
• Research & intelligence reports Social media exposure
• Regular social media coverage
• E newsletters unlimited
• Itineraries
• Visitor Pass scheme
• Solus emails Minimum Value £3500
Benefits – Gold Membership
£83.25p.m = £999p.a
• Trade leaflet listing
• Consumer leaflet listing
• Multiple Press releases
• Unlimited familiarisation
trips (press/trade)
• Trade/consumer shows
• Access to all third party
campaigns
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• Enhanced website listing
• Tourism forum attendance
• Research & intelligence reports Social
media exposure
• Social media exposure
• E newsletters
• Itineraries
• Visitor Pass scheme
Minimum Value £1000
Benefit –Silver Membership £37.50pm = £450pa
• Solus email
• Trade leaflet listing
• Press Releases
• Familiarisation Trips Trade /
Press
• Trade/consumer shows by
invitation
• Third party campaigns by
invitation
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• Standard website Listing
• Tourism Forum attendance
• Research & Intelligence reports
• Social media exposure
• E newsletter
• Itinerary
Minimum Value £400
Benefits – Bronze Membership
£12.50p.m = £150p.a
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• By invitation only
• All Benefits of Gold Membership
• Shakespeare’s England Board Member
Strategic Partnership
£3000 + in kind to £10,000 p.a
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Lonely Planet Magazine Warwickshire Awarded Best in Europe
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Coventry & Warwickshire Tourism & Culture
Awards
Shakespeare’s England WINS
Creative Marketing Award
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Coventry & Warwickshire Tourism & Culture Awards
Success for Shakespeare’s England Members
• The Arden – Best Hotel
• British Motor Museum – History & Heritage Award
• Warwick Conferences – Business Tourism Award
• Special Awards - Shakespeare’s Birthday Weekend
- Aviva Women’s Cycle Tour
- The Cross
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2016 Business Tourism Activity
• Meet Shakespeare’s England Warwickshire branding
• Reformed SE ‘Business Tourism Group’
12 Members
2 Meetings Ardencote - Sept/ Warwick Conferences -Oct
• Separate website area and url
• Confex, Olympia 2-3 March (repeat in 2017)
• Meetings Industry Association – AIM Creditation
• Target – Dallas Burston /Warwick University / Ricoh/ Coventry University
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7 Press Releases during the last 3 months:-
– Enjoy a cultural break in Shakespeare’s England this autumn
– SE shortlisted in prestigious Coventry & Warwickshire Tourism & Cultural Awards
– October half term fun in Shakespeare’s England
– Enjoy plenty of festive fun in Shakespeare’s England!
– SE wins prestigious Coventry & Warwickshire Tourism & Cultural Award!
– Discover the magic of Shakespeare’s England in 2017!
– Shakespeare’s England announces exciting hotel news in 2017!
– 43 Press Visits in 2015
– 71 Press Visits 2016 (to date)
PR Activity
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UK Media
– Sunday Times
– The Independent
– Countryside magazine
– Daily Express
– Travelsupermarket.com
– Manchester Evening News
– Plymouth Herald
– Classic Car Weekly
VB Global Press Fams
X 2 press trips Shakespeare 400
Overseas Media
– Die ZEIT (Germany)
– El Pais (Spain)
– Spanish National TV
– Twó STYL Magazine (Poland )
– Australia Network TEN
– Channel One (Russia)
– National Geographic Traveller (China)
FCO Press Fam
- 12 media (New York Times, People’s
Daily China & Deutschland Radio)
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Key Press Coverage
Travel GBI
June £340
Chat Magazine
(June) £6.4k
Sunday Times
(April) £60k
Plymouth Herald
(June ) £5k
National Geographic
China, (Aug)
£1.5 million
Lets Travel
(Jan) £26K
Key Press Coverage (international)
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• TOTAL EAV TO DATE £6.2million
• Circulation 579 million
• Readership 1.447 billion
• 2014 Total EAV £1.6 million (monthly average £130k)
• 2015 Total EAV £437K (monthly average £36k)
• 2016 Total EAV £4.2 million (monthly average £471k)
PR Activity – Press Coverage
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2016 Press coverage generated:
April EAV £1.4M
May EAV £ 485K
June EAV £ 48K
July EAV £ 45.5K
Aug EAV £1.7 million
Sept EAV £ 60K
Website - 100% growth since 2015 - Since January 2016 over 50,000 visits, 120,000 Page Views - Blog – your opportunity to promote your business - Shakespeare 2016 content hub - #Shakespeare2016
E-newsletter - Quarterly Trade Newsletter - Partner Newsletters Social media Facebook – 25,000 likes Twitter – 5,000 followers
PLEASE FOLLOW @SEnglandBiz & @ShakespearesEng
Digital Marketing
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• WTM World Travel Market, London
7-9 November
• GREAT China Welcome Training, Stratford
16 November
• Destination Britain China, Shanghai
21 – 24 November
• Tstats Training, Warwick
7 December
Upcoming Activity
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• Shakespeare’s England website upgrade
• Discover England Fund successful Bids (£40m fund)
- Canals & Waterways – The Warwick Ring / Stratford Canal (£153k yr1, £2m yr 2&3)
- Re - interpreting English Heritage Product - New Place (£250k yr1, £2m yr2 & 3)
• DEFRA Rural Food Tourism Bid (£25,000)
• Rural Payments Office Bid
• Regional Visitor Pass (£74,975 grant claimed)
• WCC Skills for Employment in Tourism Grant (£250,00 fund)
• Stay, Play, Explore – Short Breaks
• ExploreGB 2018 Hosting Bid
Ongoing Projects
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Destination Management Plan
7 key priorities for the region with project leads across the region
i. Evidence base and intelligence –
ii. Destination(infrastructure)development- SDC
iii. Market Development – SE
iv. Communication and profile –
v. Product Development – SBT
vi. Welcome, information and Experience –
vii. Skills, Develop’t, education & careers – Q Hotels 27
Shakespeare’s England’s KPIs
1. Increase Membership by10% and private sector income (excluding Board Members) by 10%.
Membership as of 1 September 2016 = 107
Turnover 2015/16 = £267,752
Public sector funding = £175,000 (47%)
Private sector Funding = £89,000 (33%)
2. Establish a mechanism to monitor member satisfaction (Q1 &Q2) and meet satisfaction target set by the Board for (Q3 7 Q4)
3. Progress multiple bid opportunities, deliver activity funded by at least one.
4. Identify KPIs that will measure effectiveness and implementation a structure for quarterly reporting
The accountable period runs 1 September 2016 – 31 August 2017
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02/11/16
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A Cleaner, Greener, Safer Road to Excellence
Development of a local Strategic Economic Plan for Stratford on Avon District
Dave Webb
Executive Director
A Cleaner, Greener, Safer Road to Excellence
Agenda
• Background
• Developing a coordinated and informed approach
• Current position
• Next steps
• Questions
A Cleaner, Greener, Safer Road to Excellence
Background
• Limited success in identifying ‘shovel ready’ projects
• Limited success in attracting funding via CWLEP and other sources
• General lack of focus and a coordinated approach
• Over reliance on WCC
• Lack of in house bid writing expertise
A Cleaner, Greener, Safer Road to Excellence
Developing a coordinated and informed approach
• Commitment to engage more closely with CWLEP
• Council agreed to set aside £90k (over 2 years) to help facilitate infrastructure funding bids
• Appointment of Housing and Infrastructure Portfolio Holder
• Agreement to work up a plan to bring together infrastructure projects across the district regardless of what stage they are at.
• Agreement to publish the plan
• Agreement to identify and commission a ‘Bid Writer’
A Cleaner, Greener, Safer Road to Excellence
Current position
• CWLEP support the concept of developing a district wide SEP
• List of projects compiled – informed by feedback received from the Strategic Review
• ATI Projects appointed to formulate a plan
• A list of ‘asks’ (projects) have been submitted to WMCA highlighting where they could support SDC
• Draft Stratford Area Transport Strategy is being formulated which will compliment a local SEP
• The Council answered a call for Growing Places Growth Fund expressions of interest by submitted a bid to unlock land at the former Co-op site in Studley – ATI Projects were commissioned to write the bid and £200K was awarded
A Cleaner, Greener, Safer Road to Excellence
Emerging projects (1)
Railway related schemes
• Rail Link with HS2
• Rail link to Birmingham
• Rail Services to London
• Rail Link to Cotswold Line
• Stratford upon Avon Railway Station improvements
Road related schemes
• A46 Improvements
• Stratford upon Avon congestion
• Birmingham Road
• Eastern relief road
• Southam - road improvements
• Improvement to cycle routes
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Minute Item 422
02/11/16
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A Cleaner, Greener, Safer Road to Excellence
Emerging projects (2)
Other infrastructure related schemes: -
• Birmingham Airport coach service
• Canal Quarter regeneration
The local economy and Tourism
• Development of a Shakespeare museum
• Development of a Science/Technology park
• Development of a new park within Stratford upon Avon
• Provision of a bike scheme
• Shared spaces and parking strategy
A Cleaner, Greener, Safer Road to Excellence
Next steps
• To consult with the Citizens Panel on emerging schemes
• To complete and publish the SDC SEP
• To write business cases which will put the projects into a ‘shovel ready’ position
A Cleaner, Greener, Safer Road to Excellence
Questions?
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