Agenda item

To consider the Council’s events programme, which is being reviewed as a result of the withdrawal of the UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF) and the Community Response Fund (CRF) (see document attached). The Board is to submit its recommendations to the Council’s Cabinet.

 

Lee McQuade, Economy and Growth Service Manager and Alex Stone, Business Analyst will be in attendance at the meeting to guide the discussion.

The Board welcomed Mr Lee McQuade, Economy and Growth Service Manager and Mr Alex Stone, Business Analyst, who provided details of the Council’s events programme, which was being reviewed as a result of the withdrawal of the UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF) and the Community Response Fund (CRF).

 

The Board was advised that the current plans for the 2026/27 Council events programme included 24 events with a forecasted cost of £135,300. To aid the relative assessment of events, the report analysis assigned a ‘value rating’ to each event based on a relative assessment of:

 

·                    The event’s contribution to the Council’s Delivery Plan priorities

 

·                    The event’s contribution to adopted Strategies and Strategic Plans

 

·                    The event’s value to partners seeking outcomes that aligned with those of the Council

 

·                    The public expectation around the event

 

The scope of the ‘events programme’ did not include:

 

·                    Events that were considered part of service delivery or statutory activity, such as committee meetings

 

·                    Economic Development Service’s markets, craft fayres and car boot sales, as these were focussed on economic opportunities for traders and small businesses rather than an event offered directly to the public

 

·                    Events that were not organised by the Council but that the Council participated in, promoted or otherwise supported

 

The event cost vs value rating plotted each of the 24 events in a table and suggested whether the event was considered to be high cost and high value, low cost but high value, low cost and low value or high cost but low value. The Board was invited to consider the assessment of the relative value of the events and, given the current financial situation, whether there were any recommendations they wished to make to the Cabinet as to how events might be prioritised. In response to these specific considerations, the Board requested the report's analysis of events should incorporate the ratio of event cost to attendance and an Officer based assessment of the value-for-money achieved in the delivery of the event. No specific recommendation on prioritisation was made by the Board. 

 

In discussing the content of the presentation and the table, the Board raised the following points:

 

·                    Friends of the Earth are a key partner in terms of the Eco Festival

 

·                    Should ‘Men’s Health Day’ be redesigned as ‘Family Health Day’?

 

·                    Cost of Annual Council Meeting seems high – can the cost of this be reduced in terms of buffet etc? - would be good to know the cost of a normal Council meeting for comparison purposes

 

·                    Should consider doing more flag-raisings – low cost and high impact

 

·                    Civic Banquet and Ball – need to understand where the cost is over and above the cost of the ticket to the event – not clear how much this event raised the profile of the Mayor’s chosen charities

 

·                    Could ‘Carols at The Landing’ be a new event for Farnborough?

 

·                    Need to consider these events in the context of the Council not existing in this form from 2028 – part of our heritage?

 

·                    There needs to be very good reason to hold an event that the table shows as being high cost but low value – otherwise should be stopped or changed

 

·                    ‘Cost per head’ column should be included in the analysis

 

·                    Some of the events, such as the Easter and Halloween events, feel ‘tired’ now – should they be replaced with something new?

 

·                    Could Eco Explorers Clubs be held less often to save money?

 

·                    Could Council buy own staging equipment for use at The Landing with a view of using for Council events and hiring out to people organising other events at venue?

 

The Chairman thanked Mr McQuade and Mr Stone for their input.