The Committee is asked to consider updates on other reviews:

·         Development Management;

·         Leisure and Tourism (report to-follow);

·         Housing Services

To-follow report published 7 October 2016.

Tabled paper for Housing Services item published 14 October 2016.

Leisure and Tourism review – Draft report by the Task and Finish Group

The Chairman drew attention to the Leisure and Tourism draft report and invited the Review Coordinator to introduce the item.

The Review Coordinator introduced the report which outlined the findings of the Task and Finish Group to establish whether the Council was making the most of Swale’s leisure and tourism offer in order to encourage people to visit the Borough.  He drew attention to paragraph 5.1 of the report which focused on how important tourism was to the Borough and it’s economy and that it supported 7% of the total employment in Swale.  The Review Coordinator spoke about the importance of branding Swale and whether this should be as a single designation or whether to separate Faversham, Sheppey, Sittingbourne, plus the villages and Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty.  

The Review Coordinator noted that over 65% of visitors to Swale were from people visiting family, so it was important also to promote tourism in Swale to local people.  He noted the strong response from those working within the tourism industry about the importance of Councillors working together and with local groups to improve local tourism.

The Review Coordinator explained that the Policy and Performance Officer and himself had visited Tendring District Council and Maldon District Council.  He considered that as authorities they were both doing more than Swale to promote tourism.  In response to queries, the Review Coordinator explained that Tendering were heavily marketing and promotion the two-day Clacton Air Show, and also Harwich which had an attractive historic town centre. 

Members raised the following points: full and useful report; report did not give enough ‘weight’ to things already being done in Faversham, particularly by Visit Faversham.  It also did not acknowledge the work undertaken by volunteers.

The Review Coordinator considered that the report did acknowledge tourism work already being undertaken, particularly in Faversham.  He added that the purpose of the report was to expand on the good work that was already happening. 

The Review Coordinator drew attention to the recommendations outlined in the report.  Members considered each recommendation separately, raising comments and suggesting amendments as necessary.   

There was some discussion about branding and the following points were raised: Faversham already had its own branding ‘Market Town of Kings’; the branding should be aimed at what Swale had to offer as a whole and not by separating the areas; suggested focusing on history, tranquil and active – Swale rather than places; and did not matter which area an attraction comes from, it was more about how it was ‘packaged’.

The Policy and Performance Officer advised that branding was likely to be included within the Visitor Economy Strategy was currently listed on the Forward Plan for consideration by Cabinet in 2017. 

The Chairman and Members applauded the Review Coordinator and members of the Task and Finish Group for the “exceptional” report.  The Chairman stated that he looked forward to the Cabinet response.

Development Management

The Chairman, also the Review Co-ordinator, reported that the Task and Finish Group were going to visit neighbouring authorities and would be inviting witnesses to a future Scrutiny Committee meeting.  It was hoped that a report would be finalised by the end of the municipal year.

Housing Services

The Chairman invited the Review Co-ordinator to introduce the update report which had been tabled for Members.

The Review Coordinator thanked the Policy and Performance Officer for his support and stated that he hoped to have a draft report for Members by December 2016.  He reported that they were arranging visits to other local authorities.

Recommendations on Leisure and Tourism to Cabinet:

a)        Promotion and marketing:

i)          To commit a minimum of £25,000 to the tourism base budget to allow for substantial marketing and promotion of Swale as a tourist destination;

ii)         To agree an objective of growing Swale tourism by 5 – 10% over the next 4 years;

iii)        to consider as part of the future tourism plans the best forms of branding of Swale.

b)        Visitors to Swale and local infrastructure:

i)          Swale Borough Council (SBC) should identify and provide sufficient coach parking in convenient locations to meet the demands of all visitors to Swale;

ii)         SBC Should work closely with tourist attractions to ensure the Borough has a comprehensive coverage of up to date “brown tourist signs” including on strategic routes;

iii)        provision of more local signs;

iv)       consideration given to whether the funding of these signs could be supported by SBC, either through a new fund, Member grants, Section 106 or a combination of these;

v)        SBC should make sustained efforts to influence Kent County Council Highways and Highways England to fulfil their responsibilities to keep roads clean, and do the same with Network Rail in relation to the approaches to local stations.

c)         Working with local tourism sector:       

i)          that SBC facilitates the establishment of collaborative groups, preferably led by the private and/or voluntary sector;

ii)         that SBC establishes a challenge fund of £3,000 to support new activities or events.

d)        Research and intelligence:

i)          to conduct a full economic assessment of tourism in Swale.  It is understood that this has been arranged to cover 2015 using “Destination Research”.  This should be repeated strictly every three years which has not recently been met;

ii)         additionally extra information should be sought from useful reports available on the tourism market;

iii)        to make contact with several other similar Boroughs to develop a benchmarking programme to seek the best ways of increasing the economic and cultural effects of tourism.  A minimum of £2,000 pa should be set-aside for research.

e)        Financial and other support to the sector:

i)          SBC to proactively assist local tourist organisations to find and bid for grants to increase tourism;

ii)         consider the creation and promotion of a challenge fund worth £5,000, subject to future review, which local tourism businesses could bid for;

iii)        That SBC increases the availability of officer time to ensure the best possible potential achievement of all the recommendations made by the Scrutiny Committee.