Agenda item

Report of the Cultural Services Team Manager

The Cultural Services Team Manager presented the report to Members and provided an update on each event.

December – Christmas Lights Switch On Event

The event ‘Christmas in Coalville’ will be held on Saturday, 3 December and will be a joint event with the Coalville Town Team. The food and drink event will take place in the shopping centre and entertainment would be held on the upper car park.

The Head of Community Services advised Members that the fireworks would start at 5pm and that officers would ensure that there would be as much publicity as possible to ensure that local residents were aware of the timing.

Coalville Christmas Decorations

The installation of the Christmas lights has started and the tree for Memorial Square had been ordered along with a more attractive fence that would then be stored away for use each year. Inspection and testing had started and to date the Council had been made aware that nine lamp column timers were faulty and therefore additional expenditure was anticipated.

Coalville Events

The flyer advertising events for the town was attached and December’s was currently being worked on.

2017/18 Proposed Events Programme

It was proposed that the events sub group would meet in the New Year to consider the events, it was proposed to review Coalville by the Sea to see if the Council was able to offer more for the budget and provide a greater impact.

The Cultural Services Team Manager stated that credit needed to be given to the team for delivering the event considering the weather and it had been well attended.

Councillor D Everitt stated that Coalville by the Sea was a good day’s entertainment and congratulated officers for delivering the event despite the poor weather conditions as that may have put many people off attending.

Councillor J Legrys stated that he had spent time at Coalville by the Sea as a volunteer for Hermitage FM and felt that it was a good event but felt that for the next year consideration needed to be given to the location of the marquees as the event was too spread out.

The Head of Community Services advised Members that there was a £16k budget for the Christmas Lights and £15,000 of that was tied up in the contract with Field and Lawn and therefore there was £1,000 kept back for maintenance however this year had been an unusual year as the Council had not experienced such high levels of maintenance and replacements required and therefore a further reserve was required. He also advised Members that as requested at the last meeting officers had looked at lighting on the Clock Tower but as Members were aware there was not the resource to move forward and it was therefore proposed to look at that in next year’s budget.

Councillor J Geary expressed concerns over the cost of the timers and asked officers to ensure that the best quote was found.

In response to a question from Councillor P Purver in relation to the Christmas trees that were put up on shop fronts, the Head of Community Services advised Members that there was no budget allocation of funds from the Coalville Expenses budget and that a contractor contacts each business to see if they wish to participate. He informed Members that he was aware that not all business were contacted and therefore this year a letter will be sent to all business with the contact details on to see if they wish to have a tree. Members were advised that the letter was to be sent out the day after the meeting, a copy of the letter would be sent to all Members.

It was moved by Councillor M Specht, seconded by Councillor J Legrys and

RESOLVED THAT:

1.    The progress update on 2016/17 events be noted

2.    The initial proposals for 2017/18 events be noted.

RECOMMENDED THAT:

1.    A sum of £3,000 be allocated from reserves to cover the replacement timers and maintenance of Christmas lights.

2.    The event dates for Proms and Picnic in the Park 2017 be agreed as 24 and 25 June.