Agenda item

The Managing Director of Make it York (MiY) will be in attendance to give an update on MiY plan. Members are asked to consider a report that sets out an overview of the work that MiY undertakes to contribute to the growth and sustainability of the visitor economy and place making agenda in York.

Members considered a Report detailed how MiY supported the visitor economy and place making. The MiY Managing Director, MiY Head of Culture and MiY Wellbeing and Senior Marketing and Communications Manager were in attendance to present the report. The MiY Managing Director noted that MiY was a complex organisation covering four areas with 609 members. She outlined of the four key areas from their Service Level Agreement (SLA).She detailed the number of visitors to York and the governance arrangements for MiY.

Members then asked a number of questions in relation to the update to which the MiY officers clarified that:

·        They had been looking at funding to put the managed poster sites in place.

·        There was 110 traders on the Shambles Market and the York Market Traders Forum (which met monthly and was minuted). MiY had worked with food traders (there was 18 food vendors with 17 in operation) as a separate group. They had also provided additional support for marketing at the request of market traders.

·        During Q1 in 2019, 19% of visitors to the city had visited Shambles Market and this was 60% in the most recent survey. MiY had been working with NABMA (organisation representing markets across the UK) to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the market, and to look at trading on Mondays and Tuesdays when the market was quiet. It was noted that this work could be shared with the scrutiny committee.

·        MiY had worked with council officers on the levelling up fund and shared prosperity fund it was also in discussion with security and cleansing providers.

·        The York Market Traders Federation (YMTF) had 22 members and MiY would consult widely with traders and email all 110 traders with information on the consultation.

·        Regarding having traders on the MiY Board, there could have been issues with confidentiality regarding commercially sensitive information.

·        The canopy over the foods stalls would be removed and this was an issue for traders, not environmental health.

[Cllr Cuthbertson joined the meeting at 18:03]

·        A request for a permanent storage shed at the market had been put into the shared prosperity fund.

·        The market strategy would be in development from January 2023 following a healthcheck of the market

·        MiY managed the Market Charter on behalf of the council. The provision of markets would be looked at through the Market Charter.

·        Regarding the impact of devolution, MiY was in early discussions with the LEP and DCMS.

·        During the pandemic, MiY worked to bring residents into the city centre, had undertaken online work on the cultural sector and worked with businesses to make them covid secure.

·        The Visitor Information Centre (VIC)  was to be relocated to a more prominent place. MiY had worked with LNER to have a pop up VIC at York Station and VIC volunteers visited different venues in the city.

·        MiY was looking at making data mor accessible.

·        They were open to suggestions for pop up VICs.

·        They were looking at different dates for festivals to avoid them clashing. They would also collaborating with other authorities, for example Leeds on the return of Chinese visitors.

·        Events throughout the year were being looked at, including another residents festival and improvements to the chocolate festival and food and drink festival. They were also looking at how to engage more with residents on festivals. The ice festival was a good example of residents participating in festivals and MiY was looking at doing a sculpture train in 2023 that would be year long. They were also looking at creating a York Creates Fund  which would involve the auction of the sculptures with 50% going to charity and 50% to the York Creates Fund.

·        MiY worked with different groups on accessibility and was open to ideas. They undertook risk assessments for events but not an accessibility audit, and they could look into it.

There were no further questions from Members. The Chair thanked MiY for their update and welcomed a further update in 2023.

Resolved: That the MiY update be noted.

Reason:     To be kept up to date on the work of MiY.