Agenda and draft minutes

Resolved:  To appoint Cllr D’Agorne as Chair of the meeting.

At this point in the meeting, Members are asked to declare:

·        Any personal interests not included on the Register of Interests

·        Any prejudicial interests or

·        Any disclosable pecuniary interests

which they may have in respect of business on the agenda.

At this point in the meeting, Members were asked to declare any personal, prejudicial or disclosable pecuniary interests that they might have in respect of the business on the agenda.

Councillor Semlyen, declared a personal non-prejudicial interest in relation to the review as a Campaign Manager for ‘20’s Plenty for Us’.

It is at this point in the meeting that members of the public who have registered their wish to speak can do so. The deadline for registering is Tuesday 14 January 2014.

To register please contact the Democracy Officer for the meeting, on the details at the foot of this agenda.

It was reported that there had been no registrations to speak at the meeting under the Council’s Public Participation Scheme.

To approve and sign the minutes of the meeting held on 10 December 2013.

Resolved:           That the minutes of the last meeting of the Task Group held on 10 December 2013 be approved and signed by the Chair as a correct record.

This report presents updated information on the work completed to date and asks the Task Group to agree what, if any, additional information is required and to formulate recommendations for the full committee.

Consideration was given to the draft interim report of the Night-Time Economy Scrutiny Review which presented updated information on work completed to date relating to the issues of retail and transport.

The Task Group had been formed to undertaken a review aimed at ‘improving diverse commercial opportunities after 5pm in, and evening transport to and from, York City Centre’.

It was reported that consultation had been undertaken via an online survey, “Yorkafter5” which included questions to support the corporate review being undertaken by a number of scrutiny Task Groups on the Night-Time Economy.  Focus groups and meetings with key partners had also been held to gather views of people involved in York’s night time economy.

Support had been shown for extending retail opening hours in the city centre. However, it had been considered that this should be undertaken via a co-ordinated approach with retailers working closely with the Council and transport operators.

Further information had also been sought from cities, similar to York, to establish a benchmark for the night-time economy and to examine best practice elsewhere.  Evidence had shown that opportunities for businesses to extend their opening hours had most easily been achieved where there were clusters of shops.

The Scrutiny Officer circulated a list of proposed recommendations, compiled in conjunction with Members of the Task Group, for further discussion and agreement. He also reported back on information received suggesting the possible level of income lost arising from any introduction of free parking from 5pm. 

Members and Officers made a number of points arising from the draft report and suggested recommendations, including:

·        Questioning the cost of altering car park ticket machines in line with suggested changes to early evening car park charges.

·        The effect of any changes on car park receipts and the budget.

·        Proposals needed to encourage those working in the city to stay in the city during the early evening.

·        Suggestions for advertising a pilot, evening retail offer, in the Coppergate Centre, including low cost ‘York’s Open Later’ stickers.

·        Although no evidence had been gathered in relation to two of the suggested recommendations, relating to speed limits in the area, Members expressed their support for inclusion. This would be subject to a caveat confirming, that whilst not part of the Task Group’s remit, they were felt relevant to the late night economy topic generally and recommended for examination by the appropriate Committee.

Members agreed that no additional information was required, prior to presentation of the report to the next meeting of ECDOSC on 28 January and following further lengthy discussion it was

Resolved:   i)      That the survey results be received and noted.

ii)       That the following recommendations be presented as part of the draft final report to the next ECDOSC meeting:

A.          Group recommendations relating to overall strategy

(i)        That the Economic Development Unit and CYC York City Team consider requesting Council to provide support and guidance for retailers to help coordinate marketing and branding strategy.

(ii)      That the Economic Development Unit and the CYC City  ...  view the full minutes text for item 8.