Economy and Place Policy and Scrutiny Committee

19 October 2022

Purple Flag Update

Summary

1. This report provides an overview of the City’s Purple Flag status, where the city meets/exceed the requirements of the award and the next steps which include plans to work with partners in the hospitality and tourism industry to promote the achievement more widely.

Recommendations

2. To note the update on the city’s Purple Flag accreditation.

Reason: To be kept up to date on the city’s Purple Flag accreditation.

Background

3.  Purple Flag is an award from the Association of Town and City Management (ATCM). It is awarded to places with excellent night time and evening economies (ENTE). The award helps to create ‘safe and thriving locations at night for all users’ (Source ATCM website).

4. It is important to stress at the outset that whilst achieving Purple Flag status was part of the Council Plan 2019-2023 and is administered by the City of York Council, it is very much the city’s award and was achieved because of the contribution of many partners including (but not limited to) Make it York, York BID, York Hospitality Association, North Yorkshire Police, North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue as well as individual local businesses and other organisations for their work in creating a ‘welcoming, clean, safe place with a vibrant and rich mix of activities amongst other things’.  A more detailed list of the key partners is provided in Annex 1.

The Purple Flag Area

5. The area of scope for  Purple Flag is the boundary within York City Centre as agreed by the Purple Flag Working Group i.e. partners from the aforementioned groups and others. The map also includes a key of ENTE businesses including restaurants, pubs, nightclubs, leisure, arts, educational, civic and cultural venues. Transport hubs and late-night car parks were included. The map also includes any green spaces located within the boundary.  Annex 2 shows a map of the Purple Flag area.

Purple Flag Area Criteria

6. Purple Flag is judged around five key themes:

- The ‘Wellbeing’ theme looked at how welcoming, clean, and safe York’s ENTE is.

- The ‘Movement’ theme addressed the secure pattern of arrival, circulation and departure to those using the ENTE.

- The ‘Appeal’ theme looked at the vibrant choice and a rich mix of entertainment and activity York offers, and

- The ‘Place’ theme showed York as a stimulating destination and a vital place.

- The overarching ‘Policy Envelope’ looked at the clear aim and common purpose we as a city have behind the work that contributes to the successful running of our ENTE, and also our commitment to the Purple Flag programme.

Assessment and Conclusions

7. An overnight self-assessment took place first in August 2021 which allowed members of the Purple Flag Working Group to trial the itinerary for the Purple Flag assessors visit, and ensuring we were confident that all five Purple Flag themes were met to the required standards prior to application.

8. York’s application then proceeded to the next stage of the accreditation timeline. In November 2021 two Purple Flag Assessors visited York on behalf of the ATCM and followed an itinerary co-ordinated by the Purple Flag Co-ordinator to allow them to assess our ENTE in person and check that their findings aligned with those stated in the Purple Flag application. Their itinerary was separated into four time periods covering the city from early evening to late night.

9. Following this visit, the assessor’s findings were brought to the ATCM panel who make the decision as to whether York had met all of the requirements needed to obtain a Purple Flag. York was awarded with its first Purple Flag in February 2022. As part of this achievement, we were provided with a detailed report which highlighted comments from the assessment team in relation to each of the Purple Flag themes. York was awarded ‘Above Standard’ for 4 out of 5 key themes (Wellbeing, Movement, Appeal and Place) and Excellent/Outstanding for the Policy Envelope theme due to the effective partnership working that takes place across the city.

10. Wellbeing Highlights (Welcoming, clean and safe)

• High quality CCTV

• No alcohol policy in train station is a success

• Additional York BID waste and cleaning is benefit to city

• Use of Street Rangers, Support Marshalls, Street Angels, York Rescue Boat, Taxi Marshalls, student Nightsafe all contribute to good level of community care

11.  Movement Highlights (A secure pattern of arrival, circulation and departure)

• Railway station is clean and well supervised.

• Evidence of the public using local buses until late evening.

• Public transport supported by adequate and frequent taxi provision.

• Car parks appear to be well-used, clean and adequately-lit.

• The map information boards at numerous places throughout the city were an impressive feature.

12.  Appeal Highlights (A vibrant choice and a rich mix of entertainment and activity)

• Wide range of food venues which can cater to all tastes and budgets.

• Range of bars was impressive, from traditional pubs through to contemporary bars and nightclubs.

• The late-night venues seen in various parts of the city centre appeared to be catering for the demand.

• Retail category will be enhanced by the Xmas markets and other seasonal attractions throughout the year.

• Good use and illumination of public spaces in the evening (e.g. city walls).

• Good to see that theatres and art venues were resuming following the pandemic.

13.  Place Highlights (A stimulating destination and a vital place)

• Excellent mix of accommodation, from the high-end offer nearer the railway station, to the more value-based venues in the Piccadilly area.

• Good use made of open areas. The outdoor seating/pavement café facilities are well used.

• The river-side venues are a good feature.

• Ongoing work with listed buildings is encouraging.

• Further work in the “My Castle Gateway” will further enhance the appeal of that area.

14.  Policy Envelope (A clear aim and a common purpose)

• The various projects and policies detailed in the application show that there is a very good strategic lead in the city. There are a number of multi-agency groups involved in setting objectives and targets.

• The wide range of members listed on the working group shows very good participation, seeking to achieve high standards.

• The appointment of a Purple Flag Co-ordinator, and retention during the difficult pandemic period, is a noteworthy achievement, along with plans for backing up this role by partners should the need arise.

What next?

15.  A Purple Flag round-table meeting took place in September 2022, chaired by the Leader of City of York Council and attended by key partners. Priorities for moving forward with Purple Flag were agreed. These included reviewing the Safer York Partnership’s role in the Purple Flag accreditation and partners working more collaboratively to continue to push the messaging about Purple Flag beyond the city. To this end, the City of York Council’s Assistant Director for Policy and Strategy will work with key partners from the Business improvement District (BID), Make it York and the local hospitality and tourism industry amongst others to promote the award more widely. A small budget has been allocated to help provide some publicity material.

16.  There were also discussions on recent publicity concerning hen/stag parties and holiday lets and how best to mitigate against these perceptions through building pride in our Purple Flag accreditation.  Examples of the kind of work to be brought forward includes the production of a guide to organising safe and considerate stag and hen do’s (and similar gatherings) to help ensure the city is a welcoming place for everyone.

17.  In October 2022 an interim renewal will be submitted to the ATCM. This is a lighter-touch submission, and as such is a desk-based exercise without an assessor visit or the need to complete a self-assessment chart. The ATCM will be looking for an update since York was awarded.  Examples of updates detailed within the interim report include – Trauma kits purchased for the city centre as part of the ongoing work in the York Protect and Prepare Group, progress within York PubWatch group including an increase in members from licenced trade and regular monthly meetings, new additions to York for Spring/Summer including Thor’s Orangery, YorkLife Festival and the York BID additional seating areas and planters. The Purple Flag Working Group has also been updated with new members for 2022.

18.  A full renewal application will be required for 2023, this will include a physical assessment from the ACTM.

Council Plan

19. One of the commitments in the council plan 2019-2023 under the priority of ‘ensuring safe communities and culture for all’ was to work for an improved city centre for local residents, using the MyCityCentre activities to involve the community and city centre businesses in developing solutions, and working to secure Purple Flag accreditation in York’. (p.27)

19.        Implications

· Financial – The purple flag accreditation is delivered within the Council’s Public Protection team’s existing council resources

· Human Resources (HR) –The Safety Advisory Group/Purple Flag Co-ordinator has specific responsibility for administering the Purple Flag award. As can be seen from the post title however, it is only one aspect of the role. The role is also concerned with administering the Safety Advisory Group (a multi-agency partnership providing advice to event organisers to help make them as safe as possible).  

· Equalities – there are no specific equalities implications arising directly from this report.    

· Legal – there are no legal implications arising from this report

· Crime and Disorder – the role of the award in reducing crime and disorder in the city’s highlighted in the report.

· Information Technology (IT) – there are no IT implications in the report

· Property – there are no property implications in the report.

· Other – there are no other implications in the report

Risk Management

20.  There are no known risks associated with the report.

Contact Details:

Author:	Chief Officer Responsible for the report:
Author’s name: Matt Boxall Head of Public Protection Tel No. 551528	Chief Officer’s name: James Gilchrist Director of Transport, Environment and Planning
	Report Approved	√	Date	07.10.22
Wards Affected:  List wards or tick box to indicate all					All	√
For further information please contact the author of the report

Annexes

Annex 1: List of key partners

· York BID

· Make It York

· North Yorkshire Police

· North Yorkshire Fire & Rescue

· York St John University

· University of York

· York Rescue Boat

· First York

· Indie York

· Eboracum Security

· York Hospitality Association

· York Retail Forum

· York Pubwatch

Annex 2: Purple Flag map

Abbreviations

ACTM - Association of Town and City Management

BID - Business improvement District

ENTE - Evening and Night-time economy