Part 1 - OBJECTIVES
The following are objectives to be achieved by Make It York as a Teckal company, for the purposes of public and procurement law in the United Kingdom, through the provision of the Services:
(a) Contribute proactively to the city vision of being more affordable, more accessible, more sustainable, and fairer for future generations to enjoy and residents to benefit from today.
(b) Co-ordination and promotion of the city of York's brand and cultural offer taking every opportunity to articulate York’s narrative, regionally, nationally, and internationally.
(c) Work towards increasing the value of the visitor economy (including residents as visitors) through promoting innovation for social good and higher quality in the existing offer, encouraging high value visitor economy investment and attracting higher spending visitors.
(d) Nurture new cultural ideas and initiatives to support good health and wellbeing.
(e) Create entrepreneurial partnerships to bring projects to life, reducing duplication and displacement of private sector activity in the fields that Make It York works in.
(f) Generate income from activities to support the delivery of the Business Plan and these Objectives.
(g) Work with the Council and other partners to attract funding to support and enhance the delivery of the activities set out below.
Part 2 - SERVICE SPECIFIC REQUIREMENTS
1.1 Develop and deliver agreed initiatives and programmes within the remit of the areas set out in this agreement that further the Council’s strategic priorities. These initiatives and programmes will further articulate York’s narrative, fill identified gaps in provision not addressed by other providers and must not duplicate or displace other existing or potential provision.
1.2 Develop an annual business plan for Make It York, liaising with the Council to ensure that all activities are consistent with the Council’s priorities (the “Business Plan”).
1.3 Provide regular and timely advice for Council senior managers as required on remits relevant to these Service Specific Requirements and summarising what has been submitted in a quarterly progress report.
1.4 Represent York on operational working groups relevant to these Service Specific Requirements as agreed with the Council.
1.5 Ensure coherent local communications and press releases that further articulate York’s brand position, regionally, nationally, and internationally in alignment with the Council’s Marketing & Communications Team.
1.6 Work co-operatively in areas where the Council or commissioned partners remain the lead organisation responsible, but the remit is overlapping with these Service Specific Requirements.
1.7 Make business cases to the Council, in writing, for activities, initiatives or investment proposals that are not currently part of the SLA where Make It York considers they would support the Objectives set out in Part 1 of this Schedule and would add to or enhance these Service Specific Requirements set out here.
1.8 Collect relevant data, including user feedback, to evidence performance against the Objectives set out above and the Outcomes in set out below, as well as these Service Specific Requirements.
2.1 Key Deliverables:
· Destination Management Organisation – promotion of York as a leisure and business visitor destination; running the Visit York membership scheme; representing York on the emerging York & North Local Visitor Economy Partnership (LVEP), liaison with Combined Authority, Visit Britain, Visit England, etc. to make the most of all available support and contribute to national and regional marketing initiatives.
· Visitor sector development – Working with visitor sector businesses to increase their productivity and help them become even better employers, provision of sector intelligence through a monthly report.
· Tourism Advisory Board (“TAB”) – Convene and influence the TAB as a representative body for all those involved in the tourism sector and contribute to the delivery and monitoring of the new Tourism Strategy.
(a) Destination Management Organisation – LVEP and Visit York to reflect the full diversity of York’s Visitor Economy.
(b) Visitor economy sector development – Increase accredited membership of the Good Business Charter by businesses in York’s visitor economy and increased value of York visitor economy.
(c) TAB – TAB to meet actively throughout the year, as a minimum quarterly.
Detailed delivery: Destination Management Organisation (“DMO”)
2.3 Leading on visitor economy marketing of York, working with Visit England, national and regional bodies to make the most of York’s offer and attract visitors to the city.
2.4 Maintain and develop Visit York as a membership body supporting and developing the visitor economy sector.
2.5 Work with the visitor economy sector, Visit England, the York & North Yorkshire LVEP, the York Business Improvement District (“BID”) and other partners to ensure that a quality product is offered to both visitors and residents, and that it is accessible and welcoming to all.
2.6 Encourage all York residents to enjoy the tourism and cultural offer of York including year-round promotion and targeted residents’ events.
Detailed delivery: Visitor sector development
2.7 Work with visitor sector businesses to increase their productivity and help them become even better employers, paying decent wages and offering flexible employment, by promoting the adoption of the Good Business Charter. Facilitate cross-sector work to improve York centre as a destination for business, visitors and residents including: -
(a) supporting on approaches to maximise private-sector, visitor led investment into city centre improvement; and
(b) working with the council and with businesses to stimulate a stronger evening economy.
Attract new business tourism to the city by providing a clear and effective process for responding to business tourism enquiries with high quality response and support and working proactively to attract new enquiries appropriate to the city.
Detailed delivery: TAB
2.8 Convene and facilitate a TAB for York, which brings together a diverse range of stakeholders in the sector and has an independent chair.
2.9 Take a lead in the development, delivery, and monitoring of the new tourism strategy.
3 City Centre, Events and Markets
3.1 Key Deliverables:
· Markets – Day-to-day management of the Shambles Market; operation speciality and added value markets. Management of the Market Charter on behalf of the whole city; in consultation with the Council, development of a new Markets Strategy; supporting new retailers to trade.
· City Centre vibrancy – Contributing expertise, ideas, and experiences to the Our City Centre Project, which will set the city centre strategy; working with city centre landlords, including those distant from York if they can be found, to ensure they are invested in the city.
· Commercial events – Keeping the city centre relevant and enticing by curating a programme of public events in the foot streets; running commercial events such as the Christmas market in a safe and sustainable manner, to generate commercial opportunities for local businesses and generate surplus for investment.
· Spaces and Places Policy – Development of a Spaces and Places Policy that improves how buskers, street traders, street cafes and pedlars are managed in the City Centre. Working with the Council, The BID and other city centre organisation’s that will need to be partners to deliver the new policy.
3.2 Outcomes (to be set or confirmed in City Centre Strategy)
(a) Markets – Development of a new Markets Strategy for the next 5 years so that the market is commercially sustainable and an attractive place to do business and to ensure it can adapt, where needed, and remain strong into the future. Implement measures for improving the performance and competitiveness of Shambles Market ensuring that it contributes positively to the city and builds strong relationships with residents, visitors, businesses, and other stakeholders.
(b) Developing new speciality markets and temporary markets supporting new retailers to trade.
(c) Undertake independent evaluation of customer and non-customer sentiment to be undertaken and influence direction and raise awareness of and access to Markets as a community provision, a place to meet, shop and socialise.
(d) City Centre Vibrancy – strong leadership by Make It York’s staff and/or board of directors in Our City Centre engagement and workshop sessions.
(e) Commercial events – The provision of a varied and innovative programme of events and festivals, which attract both existing and new audiences with a particular emphasis on young people and families ensuring that they demonstrate economic benefits to York, deliver cultural benefits, media benefits raising the profile regionally, nationally and internationally and community benefits, in terms of bring communities together, offering skills development, of professional staff, young people and volunteers.
(f) Additional Events – Where new or large one-off events provide opportunities for the city, Make It York and the Council will agree a separate Service Level Agreement to ensure delivery expectations are clear with an identified budget if applicable.
Detailed delivery: Markets
3.3 Operation of the Shambles Market and facilitate meaningful engagement with all traders. Develop a new Markets Strategy for York which includes considering how best to use the powers in the Market Charter to support inclusive growth across the city.
3.4 Work with traders and other stakeholders to develop the market business plan in order to maximise its financial performance and continue to develop the offer.
3.5 Operate York’s market charter on behalf of the Council.
3.6 Maintain and update as necessary the Market Regulations ensuring compliance with all legislation and Statutory Requirements and throughout the rest of the Contract Term, Make It York will continue to update the Market Regulations for approval by the Council, as necessary, on an on-going basis, in consultation with the traders, ensuring that the up-to-date Market Regulations are promulgated and implemented in a fair, transparent and consistent basis.
Detailed delivery: City centre vibrancy
3.7 Oversee opportunities for Eye of York, Tower Gardens, Exhibition Square, Kings Square and St Helen’s Square, within the constraints and challenges these areas have. Develop workable solutions to put to the council to be able to commercialise these areas, if possible.
3.8 Contributing expertise, ideas, and experiences to the Our City Centre Project which will set the city centre strategy.
3.9 Create a high-profile calendar of city centre festivals, activities and events ensuring that partners including the Council, and the BID are enabled to contribute. Identify times when new events would add value to the York experience and work on filling these gaps.
3.10 Promote the events calendar through all appropriate means including through highly visible city centre information to continue Yorks’s reputation of being a welcoming city for all as a city of sanctuary and human rights city.
Detailed delivery: Commercial Events
3.11 Run safe and sustainable commercial events, including specialist market to support economic growth and promote York, to generate surplus for investment.
3.12 Maintain an up-to-date, comprehensive, and publicly accessible overall list of events happening across York.
3.13 Support Local and Community Events to be delivered safely by creating and event toolkit to allow event organisers to self-serve including guidance on event management and highlighting where permissions would be required.
3.14 Manage all enquiries from any individual or organisation requiring support / guidance with regard to putting on an event in York in the first instance.
3.15 If a proposed event falls within the Foot streets, Tower Gardens, or the Eye of York:
(a) decide whether to permit the event.
(b) take responsibility for ensuring that the event organiser complies with all safety and other legal requirements in the planning and delivery of the event, including referring the event to the council’s Safety Advisory Group.
(c) provide any appropriate management or other support to the event organiser.
3.16 If the proposed event is on land other than the Foot streets, Tower Gardens or the Eye of York determine whether the event falls within Make It York's remit and objectives, and if so:
(a) seek relevant Council approvals to proceed.
(b) provide appropriate management advice or other support to the event organiser at an agreed cost; and
(c) if not, sign post the event organiser to web-based and other information resources as appropriate.
3.17 Work within relevant laws and regulations that exist and ensure compliance with all licenses and permissions associated with particular sites at all times.
4 Culture
4.1 Key Deliverables:
· Culture Strategy – Help to deliver the culture strategy along with other partners to enable an ambitious and cohesive programme of cultural development for the city covering the arts, heritage and creative industries from the spaces managed by MIY.
· Events Framework – A city wide Events Framework consistent with the aims of the cultural strategy that enables the city proactively to identify the events that it wishes to host and attract and enables the Council to respond in an informed way when opportunities are brought forward.
· UNESCO designation – Ensure the people of York understand and appreciate the importance of York’s UNESCO Creative City of Media Arts status and maximise its impact. Through promotion on the Visit York and Make It York Website.
4.2 Outcomes:
(a) Culture Strategy – Deliver MIY events in the City Centre and help facilitate third party events.
(b) Events Framework– Co-produce an events framework with the Council that has a clear vision for city wide events, as well as a detailed toolkit to support individuals and organisations in planning an event in York.
(c) UNESCO Designation – Promotion of designation through the website.
Detailed delivery: Culture Strategy
4.3 Promote an ambitious and cohesive programme of cultural development for the city covering the arts, heritage and creative industries from the spaces managed by MIY.
4.4 Work with partners to facilitate or deliver joint events - for the creative sector.
4.5 Receive regular strategic advice from both the cultural and creative sectors maintaining appropriate liaison arrangements to inform the Make It York board of directors and to steer the company’s plans.
4.6 Maintain positive and comprehensive relationships with national and regional strategic support bodies.
4.7 Put together the necessary partnerships to make funding bids to deliver the Culture Strategy.
Detailed delivery: Events Framework
4.8 Work with business, visitor economy and cultural sectors in developing the Framework to ensure its fit with wider city strategies / objectives.
4.9 Events framework to be co-produced with the Council for approval, in line with Our City Centre vision and put in place systems to evaluate the success and impact of the Framework as delivered by MIY.
4.10 Take the initiative in building coalitions and partnerships for specific initiatives to fill identified gaps in product as identified by the framework.
4.11 Engage businesses and visitors in mass participation sporting events commissioned by the Council.
Detailed delivery: UNESCO designation
4.12 Support the Guild of Media Arts as the focal point for UNESCO City of Media Arts designation by Promoting York’s status. Work with UNESCO Focal Point – the Guild of Media Arts – and the Council and wider partners to deliver the current UNESCO Creative City objectives.
4.13 Promote the creative sector through media channels highlighting York’s profile as a creative city, as part of the membership scheme
4.14 Promote the designation within the city, e.g., through the BID, Retail and Hospitality Forums.