Issue - meetings

The Committee heard from the Assistant Director of Planning and Regeneration regarding the development of a Cultural Strategy for West Lindsey. She explained that it was considered by the Prosperous Communities Committee on 14 September where five themes of work to develop West Lindsey’s cultural offer, positioning and activity were agreed. The work streams were:

·         Events

·         Strategic Relationships

·         National Portfolio Organisation Status

·         Investment in the Trinity Arts Centre

·         Role of Culture in Placemaking

Members were now being asked to give approval to spend against the allocation of £250,000 agreed in previous committees. There were three key areas of spend identified. Firstly in the creation of a band 8 fixed term resource for 24 months. The budget also made provision for IT equipment. This new role would lead the marketing and co-ordination of events across the district, developing a central ‘tool’ for residents and businesses to advertise and seek information about events and cultural activities.

The second area of spend suggested was around the council seeking to secure National Portfolio Organisation Status. In order to be able to tap into long term sustainable funding for culture, an organisation must be an NOP. External support was needed to understand the challenges faced to achieve this and what it might mean for the district.

It was also explained that National Lottery Heritage had a funding programme for the redevelopment and regeneration of Heritage assets, with funds of up to £5million being awarded to successful bidders. It was proposed that up to £62,000 was used to develop a bid for capital investment, activities and events, with support being sought from the Committee for the bid for funds to be submitted once the work had been undertaken. It was stated that this was a rolling programme with the funder taking applications and reviewing them once per quarter.

There was widespread support amongst Members for the development of the Cultural Strategy, although there were concerns expressed that sports development was not included, despite both sports and the arts having gone into decline. This was acknowledged to be a nationwide concern.

In response to a question as to how ‘culture’ was to be defined, Members were directed to section 2.4 of the associated report where the following paragraph from the Local Government Association was quoted:

“‘Culture is who we are. It is our heritage and future. It is how we live our lives and express our identities. It is art, music, film fashion, design, even gaming. But it is much more; it is what defines us and how we are changing’.”

Following further discussion regarding leisure provision across the district, with Members being assured there was work underway outside of the Cultural Strategy which would seek to address those concerns, the Chairman called the vote, the paper having been moved and seconded in earlier discussions. It was

            RESOLVED that

a)    approval be given to spend, from the Cultural Strategy Reserve, £85,000 for new fixed term officer capacity and £25,000 to develop our approach to securing National Portfolio  ...  view the full minutes text for item 29

Members heard from the Assistant Director of Planning and Regeneration regarding the development of a Cultural Strategy for West Lindsey. It was explained that in early 2020 the Council received a recommendation as part of the Corporate Review which recommended that the council consider the development of a Cultural Strategy. Officers had reviewed the current position and suggested five work streams in order to develop a cohesive approach and cultural offer. Whilst it was recognised that this was not yet a Cultural Strategy by definition, these were the building blocks required to move towards an improved cultural offer.

The five proposed work streams were:

·         Events

·         Strategic Relationships

·         National Portfolio Organisation Status

·         Trinity Arts Centre Investment

·         Role of culture in placemaking

Members had previously agreed to support work on the development of a Cultural Strategy by earmarking £250,000 to reserve fund and the paper set out a recommendation for spend against an element of the budget allocation. It was highlighted that the Peer Challenge in early 2020 had suggested the development of a Cultural Strategy and, as work on this had been undertaken, several areas of cultural activity had been identified across the district. This included the Trinity Arts Centre in Gainsborough, markets in Gainsborough, Market Rasen and Caistor, and local events.

The Committee heard how each of the work streams would be developed and future reporting would detail the progress towards one Cultural Strategy.

Members were keen to understand the definition of ‘culture’ in the context of the strategy and how existing work underway, for example the Markets Consultation and at the Trinity Arts Centre, would feed into the strategy. The definition from the Local Government Association was read aloud and Members were assured that existing work streams would continue to support the development of the strategy as opposed to being seen as standalone items. It was also highlighted that working in partnership with strategic oversight would increase the likelihood of securing larger and long-term funds from organisations such as the Arts Council.

Note:              Councillor S. England left the Chamber at 7.43pm and returned at 7.45pm

It was acknowledged that there was further work required to maximise the potential of the town markets, however, it was highlighted that consultation was currently underway and future proposals would be presented in due course. In response to an enquiry regarding the costs of the proposed Officer role, it was explained there would be a significant remit across all work streams however there would be clearly measurable progress points in order to ensure attainable targets across the strategy.

With no further comments, the recommendations within the report were proposed and seconded and it was

            RESOLVED that

a)    the five work streams set out at 3.1 and the associated action plan (appendix 1) noting the suggested reporting lines for each action, be approved; and

b)    it be recommended to the Corporate Policy and Resources Committee that approval to spend from the Cultural Strategy Reserve be given for new fixed term officer capacity £85,000 and  ...  view the full minutes text for item 31