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Economy, Place, Access, and Transport Policy and Scrutiny Committee	22 January 2024
Report of the Director of Customer & Communities and Corporate Director of Place.

Make It York Performance Report

Summary

1. This report provides the Committee with a performance update on Make it York Limited (“MiY”) and update for members that proposals are being developed to extend the term of the current service contract between the Council and MiY for up to a further three years.

2. Also provides an update on a new Service Level Agreement (SLA) template using the ‘Our City Centre Vision’ themes, that was approved by Executive in October 2023.

Recommendations

That Economy, Place, Access, and Transport Policy and Scrutiny Committee:

3. Note the performance update from MiY at Annex A and the current SLA at Annex B.

4. Comment on the draft future Service Level Agreement template for MiY at Annex C.

Reason: To keep secure a strong future for MiY as a Teckal company.

Background

5. MiY have operated now as a Council Teckal company since 2018 and the current service contract was entered into on 23 September 2021, expiring 22 September 2024.

6. The current contract can be extended, up to a further three years (until and including 22 September 2027), provided that both the Council and MiY mutually agree (in writing) to an extension on or before 22 March 2024.

7. The current contract if extended can also be varied, allowing the contract to be updated, in particular the Service Standards (“SLA”) and Charging and Invoicing provision, as well as negotiating the terms of the leases, access, and other property related arrangements for the extended term.

8. An Executive report is planned for 14 March 2024, to request an extension to the current contract and approving a new SLA, charges, as well as any related lease arrangements.

9. The previous Executive decision which considered the current contract was approved initially on 20 May 2021, which also approved changes to the Memorandum and Articles of Association, changes to priorities the SLA was based on and noted the extensive consultation of key stakeholder groups.

Consultation

10. Extensive consultation with key stakeholder groups was last undertaken in 2021, prior to the approval of the current MiY contract. The need to undertake this scale of external consultation is not necessary at this point, as the performance of MiY has stabilised during the current contract period.

11. The current SLA shown at Annex B was approved in October 2023 at the Shareholder Committee as each year the contract allows for updates to ensure the SLA remains current. The key updates were:

a) The inclusion of the Council plan priorities in part 1.

b) Removal of the Economic Development section to reflect that this function had been moved back in-house by the Council in 2021.

c) Added in the role for MiY to play in the emerging York & North Yorkshire LVEP (Local Visitor Economy Partnership), working collaboratively with North Yorkshire Council.

d) Removed some out-of-date actions and targets.

e) Added in MiY role to lead on events in the parks.

f) Reduced administration role for MiY around Culture (Cultural Leadership Group and Culture forum).

g) Added in the need to co-produce a Spaces & Places policy for the city centre.

12. Within the Council, the future draft SLA template shown at Annex C has been consulted with all relevant chief officers and Executive members with the feedback that there is strong support for using the Our City Centre Vision themes to structure the future SLA.

13. Consultation and negotiation with MiY senior management team has been critical to reach this point and is ongoing, with a very positive, healthy and challenging client and contractor relationship to ensure a balance of commercialisation and social benefits are reached.   

Options

14. There are no options available for scrutiny members to consider for this report.

Council Plan

15. The Council set up MiY as a Teckal trading company in 2018 to deliver key priorities including economic development, city centre and markets, visitor economy and culture with an initial three-year contract during 2018-21.

16. In May 2021 the Council approved a new three-year contract for the period 2021-24, with a new SLA that returned to the Council the economic development function and staff, to allow MiY to focus on tourism, city centre and markets, culture and events.  

17. The ‘Our City Centre Vision’ approved at Executive in October 2023, re-launched a vision for the city centre to create “a vibrant city centre, where a wide range of people want to spend time in the day and night, which creates the right conditions for responsive businesses to grow and adapt, for city living to develop, and for cultural and social activity to flourish.”

18. To reflect the current environment and align to the city strategies, the ‘Our City Centre Vision’ includes 8 themes, with a strong focus on accessibility, residents, affordability, equalities, climate resilience and carbon reduction.  The 8 themes are shown below:

Figure 1: Our City Centre Vision Themes

19. This new City Centre Vision will provide a framework for the future SLA for MiY to ensure that it aligns with not only the new vision, but the three 10-year strategies which were approved by Full Council in December 2022 comprising of:

a) Climate Change Strategy 2022-2032

b) Health and Wellbeing Strategy 2022-2032

c) Economic Strategy 2022-2023.

20. These overarching strategies and the recently adopted Council Plan have all been reflected in the Our City Centre Vision.

21. Finally, the Vision also aligns to the priorities in the emerging Tourism Strategy for the City “A vision for tourism in York 2023”, due to be considered by the Executive soon.

Implications

22. There are no implications for this report, as no decisions are being considered.

Risk Management

23. There are no known risks.

Contact Details

Author:	Chief Officer Responsible for the report:
Andrew Laslett Strategic Services Manager Customer & Communities Tel No. 01904 553370 & Kathryn Daly Head of City Development City Development	Pauline Stuchfield Director Customer & Communities
	Report Approved	√	Date	11.01.2024
Tel No. 01904 554153
Wards Affected:					All	X
For further information please contact the author of the report

Background Papers:

21.05.2021 Executive Committee. Agenda item 133: The Council’s Contract with Make it York

12.10.2023 Executive Committee. Agenda item 37: Delivering the Vision for the City Centre

Annexes

Annex A:   MiY Performance Report

Appendix 1 – MIY Company Dashboard July to Sept 2023

Annex B:   MiY Service Level Agreement

Annex C:   MIY New Service Level Agreement template

List of Abbreviations Used in this Report

CLG – Culture Leadership Group

LVEP - Local Visitor Economy Partnership

MiY – Make It York Limited

SLA – Service Level Agreement