The Chair welcomed members and officers to the meeting.

Apologies were received from Cllr Geoffrey Theobald OBE, Cllr Alice Perry, Cllr Terry O’Neill and Cllr Mike Bell.

Cllr Chris Saint and Cllr Guy Nicholson attended as substitutes.

No declarations of interest were made.

LGA Senior Adviser, Ian Leete, introduced the report which updated the Board on the progress of the culture-led regeneration work and invited further steer.

Ian informed the Board that a total of £20,000 has been made available for this work. £13,000 of this is from the LGA improvement budget, and the remaining £7,000 being provided by a grant from the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation.

The winning bidder for the culture-led regeneration research was Regeneris who have led appraisals of a number of City of Culture programmes.

Regeneris’ findings will be communicated through a publication launched in May/June 2018, which will include advice and guidance for councils wishing to use culture as a way to promote regeneration.

Discussion

In the discussion which followed, these points were made:

·         Members recommended a wider brief when defining culture to include – performance arts, the creative industries, music, festivals in all guises i.e. music/food/art. It must also consider the scale and frequency of events (e.g. Glastonbury now has a year off)

·         Members also highlighted the lack of reference to diversity in the community and how culture varies for different people in the community. Carnival culture was given as an example.

·         Members agreed that the basis of this research should be on sharing good practice in establishing culture-led regeneration and providing a loose framework for councils who may be interested in undertaking culture-led regeneration.

·         Members noted that any potential guide must remain conscious that councils are on very limited budgets.

·         Members requested that the list of potential case studies is reviewed. Comments included that the current list is too urban specific. The Chair stressed that the current proposed list was not an exhaustive list and other potential case studies can and will be added.

·         Members recommended including case studies of projects which did not work and the lessons that can be taken from this.

·         Members also noted the size of the budget, and that the desired breadth and depth may not be possible – it is important to have realistic expectations.

·         Members suggested a case study that was successful in being able to secure funding across a wider area, such as through the regional arts council, or partnerships with universities.

Decision

The Culture, Tourism and Sport Board members discussed and provided direction. They provided steer on the need to take a broader interpretation of culture, to emphasise replicability, and capture some examples of what did not work as well.

The Chair welcomed Nick Rhodes, Chief Executive of National Association of British Market Authorities (NABMA) Marketplace, who presented the key findings of the research into Christmas markets.

Nick explained that it is estimated that Christmas Markets generated more than £500 million in visitor spend in the host towns. The research revealed that many markets do not routinely capture key information, so this is expected to be an underestimate.

British Christmas Markets are increasingly able to compete effectively against international competitors with Manchester market voted the most popular UK market and placed higher than Christmas destinations such as Dresden, Leipzig and Cologne.

The research indicated that towns often look to host Christmas markets to increase footfall and boost the local economy, and strengthen town centres.

Discussion

In the discussion which followed, these points were made:

·         Members noted that in Germany Christmas markets are worth annually €6 billion. They stressed the scale of German advertising in comparison to British Christmas markets, suggesting the British marketplace is not properly realising its full worth.

·         Members noted the research found a positive impact from Christmas markets on surrounding businesses, but highlighted the lack of information on the impact on local market traders.

Decision

The Culture, Tourism and Sport Board members discussed the report and provided direction on the final publication.

Ian Leete, Senior Adviser, updated the Board on the Culture, Tourism and Sport Conference will is being held on Wednesday 7 March – Thursday 8 March at The Hilton, Hull.

Ian informed the Board that 41 delegates have signed up to attend the conference. The LGA will continue to market the conference through bulletins, tweets and advertisements in First magazine.

Decision

Members of the Culture, Tourism and Sport Board noted the report.

Members fed back on meetings they had attended.

Thanks was given to Cllr Terry O’Neill for agreeing to be the LGA’s trustee on the London Marathon Charitable Trust Board.

Decision

Members of the Culture, Tourism and Sport Board noted the report.

Siraz Natha, Adviser, informed the Board of the outcomes of the first LGA Sport & Physical Activity Conference held on 5 December 2017.

The conference was successful with 76 delegates attending and an estimated  net income of between £9,000 - £10,000 generated for the LGA.

Feedback from the conference was positive with 95 per cent of delegates replying that they were either very or fairly satisfied with the event.

Decision

Members of the Culture, Tourism and Sport Board noted the report. 

Ian Leete, Senior Adviser, introduced this report which summarised for the Board LGA officers’ activity since the last board meeting in November 2017.

Decision

Members of the Culture, Tourism and Sport Board noted the report.

The minutes of the previous meeting were approved.

No further items of business were raised.