Agenda item

Report No: OAS/SE/19/002

(Councillor John Burns declared a local non-pecuniary interest as a business partner of Real Bodies Health and Fitness Ltd, Haverhill. He remained in the meeting for the consideration of this item.)

The Committee received and noted the Annual Report of the Cabinet Member for Leisure and Culture, Councillor Joanna Rayner, who was pleased to be invited by the Committee to this meeting to present her report.

Report No: OAS/SE/9/002 set out the focus for the annual update. Prior to the meeting taking place, the Cabinet Member was provided with some key questions from Scrutiny Members on what they would like included in the update, and responses were set out the report.

The Committee asked a number of follow-up questions relating to the responses provided on The Apex; how the Destination Management Organisation (DMO) was engaging with tourism businesses in the rural areas; and the role of and methods by which ‘What’s On West Suffolk’ promoted West Suffolk as a tourism destination, to which comprehensive responses were provided. These included:

(a)     that the Council’s subsidy to The Apex had reduced significantly since it opened almost ten years ago, however there were no current plans for this subsidy to be reduced to zero.  Suggestions for increasing income were given by the Committee, including exploring additional seating capacity and making more of the first floor galleried area; the sale of retail merchandise; and offering reduced ticket prices or incentives to local residents. To this latter point, Members were reminded that a membership scheme was already in place which offered benefits.

(b)     That a list of organisations that were located in rural areas where the DMO had successfully engaged would be provided in the form of a written response.  This would include examples; the split between those organisations supported by the DMO in Bury St Edmunds, Haverhill and the rural areas and how many were paying to be listed. Emphasis was placed on the fact that the relatively new DMO was still evolving and was focussing on trying to establish a firm platform to make it more sustainable. The above points would be fed back to the DMO with suggestions made to engage further with organisations outside of Bury St Edmunds.  Members also felt the work of the DMO should be promoted by working collaboratively with What’s on West Suffolk (WoWS).  It was noted however, that the WoWS brochure /website created by the Council to help drive the promotion of events in the publicly funded venues including The Apex, local museums, parks and more recently, the Haverhill Arts Centre.  Members felt that the WoWS remained quite Bury-centric and therefore the issue of working more collaboratively should be raised with the DMO.

(c)     That in connection with section 3.7 of the report, Abbeycroft Leisure was the recognised preferred partner of the Council for providing leisure services in the Borough and West Suffolk with a partnership agreement in place.  Members noted that the ‘soft’ launch of the Parkour facility at Haverhill Leisure Centre was 19 January 2019.

There being no decision required, the Committee NOTED the annual update.