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Councillor Bentley (in respect of his membership of Essex County Council) declared a non-pecuniary interest in the following item pursuant to the provisions of Meetings General Procedure Rule 7(5).
The Board received a report from the Commercial Manager, Commercial Transition Manager and Operations Manager – Events providing an update on the operational businesses. Graham Lewis, Commercial Manager, and Rob Hill, Commercial Transition Manager, presented the report and provided an update on the services.
In terms of Helpline, members requested sight of the Options paper that was being prepared for the Portfolio Holder for Housing and Public Protection in respect of the review of Sheltered Housing Helpline services, and explored how the Helpline encouraged channel shift. The Commercial Transition Manager explained that referrals could be made online, and the possibility of setting up a social media account had been explored, but this was currently on hold. All Helpline literature contained details of the website and an e-mail address, but given its customer base tended to be older, there was still a reliance on more traditional forms of communication. However, further information as to how Channel Shift was being addressed would be submitted to the next meeting.
In respect of the Events Service, it was reported that the arrangement with the Mercury Theatre to provide advice on the management of Charter Hall was coming to an end and that a full time Events Manager for ticketed Events would be recruited to work across all the Council’s venues. Members of the Board asked whether there would be benefit in exploring an ongoing joint venture with the Mercury Theatre rather than recruiting a full time member of staff. The Commercial Manager explained that the Events Service would continue to work together with the Mercury Theatre on ticketing and marketing, and to develop a joint marketing and customer database. They would also look at joint scheduling with other venues across Colchester, to ensure that they did not schedule events in direct competition with each other. However, it was felt that in addition to this joint working, there was still a role for a dedicated manager for ticketed events for the Events Service. It was stressed that the focus of the Events Service was to generate revenue from the Council’s venues, rather than to promote or generate tourism in the wider sense, although clearly a successful Events Service would help stimulate tourism in the borough.
Members of the Board felt that would be some merit in the Board exploring further how the Events Service worked with other venues across the borough, looking at how events were scheduled, marketed and ticketed. It could also look at how the Events Service could link into tourism in the borough, such as through discounted packages across venues. The Board requested that a report addressing these issues be submitted to the next meeting of the Board.
In addition members of the Board suggested that it would be helpful if all members were provided with details of forthcoming events in advance, and also that events could be marketed through the terminals at the Community Hub. The Commercial Transition Manager explained that this was being looked into. He also explained that the flyer for events in open spaces was issued twice a year and was still an effective marketing tool.
RESOLVED that:-
(a)
The contents of the report and the current position on the operational services be noted.
(b)
That further information as to how Channel Shift was being addressed in the Helpline Service be provided to the next meeting of the Board,
(c)
A report looking at how the Events Service linked into tourism in the borough and how it worked with other venues across the borough be submitted to the next meeting of the Board.