Agenda item

The Portfolio Holder for Housing and Community Services will be in attendance to give account of performance within the remit of his portfolio.  

Discussion:

The Portfolio Holder for Housing and Community Services addressed the committee outlining the main achievements within areas of his portfolio, including:

·        Rochester Castle - there had been an 8% increase in the number of visitors during the past year; there was now a maintenance plan and the fabric of the building would be monitored over the next few years to identify any deterioration; discussions were on-going with the lottery fund for works to the Mural Tower

·        Upnor Castle – an EU bid for £85,000 had been successful and would be used for interpretation signage; a study had been carried out on the barrack block which would be used to determine how to attract funding for re-development work

·        Eastgate House – stage one of a £1 million bid had been approved

·        Museum – The Opening the Doors Programme made the entrance more attractive with better presentation and inter-active displays

·        Events – the Dickens Festival had received an unprecedented number of coaches and the festival was near to capacity; a year of celebrations was planned for 2012 including the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee, Dickens’ 200^th anniversary and the 100^th anniversary of the Royal Engineers

·        Greenspaces – the council had agreed savings of £100,000 with the contractor by working more efficiently without diminution of the quality of service; there had been five green flag accreditations; Phase 2 of the Playbuilder scheme had been completed; and work with Hadlow College and friends groups was on-going with floral bedding across Medway involving 4,000 hours of community engagement

·        Medway Park – the British Transplant Games was soon to be hosted at the centre; the centre was also being developed as a rugby training venue; coaching qualifications were being developed; four nations were using the facilities as their pre-Olympics training camp; and the Olympic torch relay would be coming through Medway

·        Theatre and Arts – this year’s pantomime was extremely successful and there had been a series of theatre events throughout the year; greater use was being made of the art gallery in Rochester High Street

·        Libraries – work continued to encourage more people to use the libraries for a variety of activities being developed; the community hubs had been located within two libraries

·        Tourism – a tourism strategy was in the early stages of being developed which would include an action plan.

The Portfolio Holder was asked about the promotion of tourism to Medway in European countries, in particular with Holland because of the naval history between the two countries. He was asked to note that in 2017 there was the potential for marking the 350^th anniversary of a Dutch naval raid up the river Medway. Councillor Doe responded that relations with Europe needed to be strengthened and the proposed tourism strategy would address these types of issues.

Members asked if the council’s archives were to be re-located and, if so, could the historic documents currently in storage be put on display, as some documents were not available. Councillor Doe advised that there was a problem with security for some of the important historical documentation but that he would wish to see them accessed by means of virtual reality.

Members asked whether the free-swimming provision for under-11s and over- 60s would continue and whether any libraries would have to close as part of the budget proposals for 2012-2013. The Portfolio Holder advised that he knew of no proposal to either end the free-swimming initiative, which had been extremely successful, or to close any of the libraries, which were also performing extremely well in Medway. However, Councillor Doe added that the draft budget proposals for 2012-2013 were on-going and had not been finalised, so he could not give complete assurance to the committee at this stage.

The committee asked about the success of the Dickens Festival, in particular the unprecedented number of coaches, where there had been a suggestion that some coaches had been turned away. The Portfolio Holder responded that the coaches involved had been a small number that had turned up without pre-booking a space in the coach park and were turned away due to health and safety concerns of too many people in a small space.

The Portfolio Holder was asked about the proposed tourism strategy and what input Members would have into the compilation of this strategy. Councillor Doe advised that he proposed to present it to the Cultural Partnership and he welcomed the opportunity for this committee to also consider it and come forward with ideas. He also cautioned that it would not have a large budget provision, so funding would need to be sourced and applied for externally in a creative way.

Members asked how the theatre and arts budget, with a current forecast overspend of £80,000 for 2011-2012, could be made more sustainable and the effect this would have on the services provided. Councillor Doe responded that the Corn Exchange in Rochester had a net cost of £100,000 and the council was working to this becoming a self-sustaining venue in the next few years, although it was recognised that this would be difficult in the current economic climate. The service was also continually looking at improving ways of working to cut costs.

Following information about a year of celebrations in 2012, the Portfolio Holder was asked to provide information on how the funding for this tied into the proposed budget provision for next year via a Briefing Note.

The Portfolio Holder was also asked whether the cuts to the Greenspaces contract would result in a reduction to services and if not, had the council been paying too much for this contract in the past? Also, would the current quality-check monitoring remain in place? Councillor Doe responded that close monitoring of the contract remained in place and that the council and the contractor had worked together to continually streamline services and find efficiency savings.  

Decision:

The committee:

(a)   thanked Councillor Doe for his attendance and the information and answers he had provided;

(b)   requested that information on how the funding for the proposed 2012 year of celebrations would tie into the proposed budget provision for next year via a Briefing Note.