Agenda item

After squandering more than £1.6million of taxpayers' money over a decade of botched delivery of the Castle Concerts, on December 17 Cabinet finally agreed to stop the rot and transfer the financial risk to the private sector. 

However Cabinet washing its hands of the problem does not wash away the blame for those unbelievable, sustained losses. Nor does it absolve it of the responsibility to ensure future Castle Concerts benefit our community, instead of simply lining the pockets of promoters and pop stars.

The report and recommendations agreed by Cabinet in December speak only of removing the Council "from any future financial risk", but notably make no commitment to clawing back any of the £1.6million this administration poured down the drain while propping up a flawed business model. The report also, in addressing the issue of loss of artistic control over future concerts, merely says that any contract negotiated "can include opportunities within the programme to showcase local talent".

Given the ongoing financial pressures on this local authority and our goal of being crowned UK City of Culture 2025, will Cllr Doe commit now to begin recouping those seven-figure losses through any guaranteed income from future concerts and does he promise to turn that vague "can" into a firm "will" when it comes to ensuring local talent is given the chance to shine as part of that contract?

“After squandering more than £1.6million of taxpayers' money over a decade of botched delivery of the Castle Concerts, on December 17 Cabinet finally agreed to stop the rot and transfer the financial risk to the private sector. 

However Cabinet washing its hands of the problem does not wash away the blame for those unbelievable, sustained losses. Nor does it absolve it of the responsibility to ensure future Castle Concerts benefit our community, instead of simply lining the pockets of promoters and pop stars.

The report and recommendations agreed by Cabinet in December speak only of removing the Council "from any future financial risk", but notably make no commitment to clawing back any of the £1.6million this administration poured down the drain while propping up a flawed business model. The report also, in addressing the issue of loss of artistic control over future concerts, merely says that any contract negotiated "can include opportunities within the programme to showcase local talent".

Given the ongoing financial pressures on this local authority and our goal of being crowned UK City of Culture 2025, will Cllr Doe commit now to begin recouping those seven-figure losses through any guaranteed income from future concerts and does he promise to turn that vague "can" into a firm "will" when it comes to ensuring local talent is given the chance to shine as part of that contract?”

Councillor Doe thanked Councillor Paterson for his question. He stated that very many people, including himself, were extremely proud of the Castle Concerts. They were regularly a highlight of Medway social calendar and had pulled in people from near and far, all part of the positioning that the Council had as a city in waiting. The Castle Concerts had seen some incredible acts, and around 150,000 people had enjoyed fabulous evenings in the intimate setting of the castle gardens.

He stated that the Council put on a number of events during the year, not just the Castle Concerts, but also festivals and sporting events and so on and this was not to make money, but in order to make sure that those events take place and reflect on Medway.

He stated that there was always going to be a debate about the cost of the Castle Concerts and whilst £1.6million looked like a lot, over ten years it was actually not that bad.

He stated that, in his view, because of the dramatic change there had been in the way that artists were remunerated, i.e. they no longer earned their money from recordings but from appearances, the Castle Concerts model (4,500 capacity) was no longer sufficient to get really top artists to appear which he thought had made things very difficult.

He stated that as far as he was concerned the Council had taken action by putting in a model for the future. He stated that the Council had sought advice from promoters and officers to see if the Council could get these concerts put on without any risk to the Council and he stated that the Council was in an advanced state of negotiations on this and was quite hopeful to get the concerts happening this year. If that happened then quite a lot would have been achieved.

He concluded by stating that nobody should run away with the idea these events could make a profit and if they did make profits then the private sector would be doing it anyway. He stated that it had to be accepted that not every Council event could make money and he thought that what had been done over the years, taken as a whole, had been very good.