Agenda item

This report presents information in support of a proposed night time economy related scrutiny review, and asks members to agree a suitable review remit.

Members considered a report which presented information in support of a proposed night time economy related scrutiny review and asked them to agree a suitable review remit.

The report explained the background to the review and provided information on tourism in York, the membership of York Consortium and York’s new Tourism Strategy as well as the proposed timetable and remit for the review. The scrutiny officer advised members that paragraph 29 should refer to York’s new Tourism Strategy and not Visit York’s new Tourism Strategy and apologised for this typing error.

Members discussed the proposed remit as set out in paragraph 34 of the report. They made the following comments:

·         Majority of families visiting York for the day are from Yorkshire. In current economic climate, they are unlikely to stay in the city overnight if they live within an hour’s journey of home.

·         Accommodation in York is not cheap. Unless accommodation is affordable, many families will not consider staying overnight.

·         Need to ensure there are sufficient things for people to do in the evening to encourage them to stay overnight.

·         Reluctant to focus solely on families exclusively. There are other groups of people and single people are also looking for things to do at this time of the day.

·         There is no real cafe culture in York where woman can meet and feel safe in the early evening.

·         Need to investigate opportunities for increasing signposting of cultural events in the city.

·         Information needs to be made available by cultural providers to hoteliers etc.

·         Concern about extending remit to include other groups of people other than families, due to tight time frame of review.

It was agreed that the remit of the review be amended as follows:

Aim:

To identify an improved cultural offer up to 8pm in order to extend the tourist day and encourage more to stay for longer or overnight, with a particular emphasis on families.

Objectives:

(i)            Identify best practice internationally and nationally.

(ii)          Investigate barriers to increasing the availability of York’s existing family based cultural and entertainment offer.

(iii)         Identify other new cultural and entertainment activities suitable for York and investigate the possibility of their introduction.

(iv)         Investigate how best to signpost tourist activities, and encourage those providers to work with accommodation providers to jointly promote their offer.

It was agreed that a task group be set up to undertake the review and this would comprise Councillors Barnes, Reid and Taylor. The Head of Culture, Tourism and City Centre asked that the task group be involved in progressing the strategic strands set out in York’s Tourism Strategy, alongside the Culture, Tourism and City Centre team, Economic Development Unit and Visit York in order to avoid duplication of work.

Resolved:      (i)         That a task group, comprising Councillors Barnes, Reid and Taylor be set up to undertake the review on behalf of the Committee.

(ii)        That the remit for the review set out above be agreed.

Resolved:      To ensure compliance with scrutiny procedures and protocols and support the Committee’s work plan.