LGA Governance


Agenda and minutes

Agenda and minutes

Venue: The Derby Suite, Holiday Inn, 129 St Nicholas Cir, Leicester LE1 5LX

Contact: Eleanor Reader-Moore 

Items
No. Item

1.

Welcome and declarations of interest

Minutes:

The Chair updated the Board on the news that Cllr Roger Begy, a former Board Member, recently passed away. He paid tribute to Cllr Begy's valuable work assisting the LGA's broadband projects and offered his sympathies to Cllr Begy's family and friends.

There were no declarations of interest.

 

 

2.

Presentation from Leicester City Council on culture, tourism and sport work (Cllr Rory Palmer, Deputy City Mayor of Leicester)

Minutes:

The Chair invited Cllr Rory Palmer, Deputy Mayor of Leicester City, to speak to the Board about Leicesters culture, tourism and sport work.

 

Cllr Palmer began by paying tribute to Cllr Begy who was well known for his social care work in the Leicestershire area.

 

He said that he would frame his presentation around the notion that Leicester had a specific recipe for success, but that other cities, boroughs and counties will have different success stories to tell.

 

The first ingredient of Leicester's recipe for success that Cllr Palmer highlighted was the Council's flexible approach to building on local opportunities. He highlighted the vast increase in tourism generated by council investment around King Richard III's burial site, in particular the new Visitor Centre. There have been over half a million additional visitors to Leicester since this finding. However, he noted that councils must build on local opportunities in ways that integrate with their wider culture and tourism agendas, and also ensure that they maintain sustainable momentum after capitalising on initial opportunities.

 

The second ingredient of Leicester's recipe for success was the Council’s heavy investment in large-scale cross-cutting projects. He noted that cultural projects and economic projects are often mutually reinforcing, and with this in mind the Council has invested over £1 billion in cultural projects during the present administration. For example, Leicester hosted three rugby world cup matches last year and as a result received visitors from as far as Australia and Canada, thereby driving inward investment and raising the international profile of the city. Other major events that are part of Leicester's tourism offer include the London 2012 torch relay, the 2012 Paralympic torch relay, hosting Paralympic events, staging the first leg of the Diamond Jubilee tour, and holding the Dave Leicester Comedy Festival - the biggest comedy festival in Europe. In addition, major celebrations are planned if Leicester City Football Club win the Premier League this season.

 

The third ingredient was the diversity of Leicester's cultural offer. He emphasised the importance of investing in a range of cultural events that reach all parts of the community in terms of ethnicity, religion and class. Examples in Leicester include: Sky Ride, a family-oriented cycling event; the annual Diwali celebration on Leicester's golden mile; and, the annual Bonfire Night celebrations. Cllr Palmer noted that, in addition to increasing civic pride, these events offer a good financial return. For instance, the council invests £88,000 in the annual Diwali celebrations and they attract 100,000 additional visitors to the city.

The Chair thanked Cllr Palmer for his presentation, and thanked him and his colleagues for hosting the LGA Annual Culture, Tourism and Sport Conference.

 

3.

Cultural heritage and landscape pdf icon PDF 156 KB

Minutes:

The Chair recalled that, at the December Culture, Tourism and Sport Board meeting, members had strongly supported Cllr Lewis suggestion that the Board examine the impact of planning reform on cultural heritage and landscape. He updated the Board on how this has been taken forward with the Environment, Economy, Housing and Transport (EEHT) Board and welcomed Cllr Julian German (EEHT Lead Member and Economic Regeneration Cabinet Member, Cornwall Council) to the meeting.

 

The Chair also welcomed Sir Laurie Magnus, Chairman of Historic England, and Quinton Carrol, Chair of the Association of Local Government Archaeological Officers in England (ALGAO).

 

Cllr Lewis introduced the report, noting that there are many challenges across the country surrounding upscaling developments, particularly in areas without local neighbourhood plans. He highlighted the significant tensions arising from the aim of expanding housing and the aim of protecting sites of cultural value. He drew members' attention to the next steps suggested in the report, noting that these may ameliorate the impacts of development on cultural heritage sites, but emphasised that there is still a deeper issue of whether councils are using all of the legal protections for cultural sites available to them.

 

Quinton Carroll highlighted the National Planning Policy Frameworks (NPPF) explicit protections for cultural heritage sites. He also expressed concern that piecemeal amendments to the planning system in the wake of the NPPF have had the unintended consequence of weakening these protections. He argued that the most promising solution is the creation of stronger local plans. He noted that ALGAO have sample policies that councils can include in their local plans.

 

Sir Laurie Magnus agreed with Quinton Carroll that having a strong local plan is key. He also noted that one consequence of cuts to local budgets is that many councils no longer have experts in planning applications, particularly complex applications involving historic buildings, and this causes long delays in the applications process. He noted that Historic England has provided more detailed guidance to supplement the NPPF in its particular areas of expertise.

 

Cllr Julian German said that the EEHT Board supports the report and its recommendations. However, he mentioned that the EEHT Board are concerned about a lack of protection for world heritage sites, insofar as there is no statutory protection for such sites. As such, he asked for Board members' opinions on whether it would be worthwhile promoting a Heritage Bill that specifically recognises the value of these sites to our economy.

 

Action

 

The Chair asked for any further comments on the report to be directed to officers after the meeting.

 

4.

Update on current issues pdf icon PDF 150 KB

Minutes:

The Board noted the report.

5.

Annex A

6.

Annex B pdf icon PDF 122 KB

7.

Annex C pdf icon PDF 106 KB

8.

Annex D pdf icon PDF 70 KB

9.

Outside bodies pdf icon PDF 313 KB

Minutes:

 

The Board noted the report.

 

10.

Minutes of last meeting pdf icon PDF 254 KB

Minutes:

The minutes of the meeting held on 1 December 2015 were agreed as an accurate record.

 

11.

AOB

Minutes:

 

The Chair thanked officers and members for their work.

 

 

12.

Location of the Holiday Inn, Leicester pdf icon PDF 4 KB