NEWQUAY TOWN COUNCIL Tourism and Leisure Committee Actions Minutes of the meeting held at 7pm on Tuesday 8 th October 2013 in the Committee Room, Municipal Offices, Marcus Hill, Newquay. Present: Cllrs J Coltman (Chairman), Mrs I Pascoe (Vice-Chairman), Mrs J Bowden, L Harrison and D Daniel Also Attending: Mr J Piwecki (Senior Assistant to the Town Clerk), Cllr J Rainbow and 1 member of the public T180/13 - Apologies: Cllr G Gwilliam gave her apologies. Cllr O Monk was absent without apology. T181/13 - Declarations of Interest: None. T182/13 To accept and sign the Minutes of the meeting held on 10 th September 2013 It was Proposed by Cllr D Daniel, Seconded by Cllr L Harrison RESOLVED unanimously that the minutes of the meeting held on 10 th September 2013 were a true and accurate record and they were signed by the Chairman. Cllr Mrs I Pascoe abstained from the vote. T183/13 - Matters Arising: Minute Ref: T163/13 (P6/10.09.13) RE: Band Concerts to receive an update, make arrangements for next year and Car Parking Cllr Mrs Pascoe asked if members had taken any thought to extending band concerts into September. Members agreed to look into this. Minute Ref: T169/13 (P9/10.09.13) RE: Busking Competition on the Killacourt Mr Piwecki reminded members that the busking competition was removed from the agenda on advice from the Town Crier. Minute Ref: T162/13 (P5/10.09.13) RE: To Discuss and make any Decisions regarding a centralised marketing system for Newquay Events Mr Piwecki updated members regarding the Widget for the Visit Newquay Page 1 of 11
Website. The Tourism & Leisure Committee agreed at the previous meeting to put 300 towards the Widget with the aim to further promote events in Newquay. The Town Clerk learned after the meeting that this was not a one off cost but be an annual fee and would advise the Committee not to commit the funds. Cllr Mrs Pascoe said she did not understand what Mr Piwecki had said and she was already seeking legal advice on the 300 being released for the Visit Newquay Widget. Mr Piwecki reiterated his earlier point that the money would no longer be spent. T184/13 - Matters Referred: None. T185/13 - Public Question Time: It was proposed by Cllr J Coltman, Seconded by Cllr D Daniel and RESOLVED unanimously to invoke Standing Order 1.10 to permit External Reports and to receive questions from members of the public. Mr Mansfield was born and bred in Newquay and knows it thoroughly. He had the honour of speaking on national television regarding the development of surfing in Newquay. The particular event he would like to speak on was stimulated by Mr Rick Fryer. 50 years ago Mr Fryer and 3 others took part in a historical event. Mr Mansfield can definitely say it was cause for celebration and represented the start of big wave riding. Cllr Mrs Pascoe asked what kind of celebration Mr Mansfield had in mind. Mr Mansfield said this would develop over time as it s not proposed to occur for another 2 years. It s perceived the event would take place on Towan headland. There was also a suggestion of a plaque or monument to commemorate the event. This would be an event for the surfing community. - Cllr Mrs Bowden Cllr Mrs Bowden said she, and others, surfed way before Mr Mansfield stated in his presentation and argued there was a surfing community Page 2 of 11
before this. Mr Mansfield responded and said it was never mainstream until after this event. Cllr Harrison said if this was a 50 year celebration of the Cribbar surf, how long before this was surfing established? Mr Mansfield said in previous years people had built their own boards, by 1966 the surfing population had grown to approximately 100 riders. Cllr Mrs Pascoe asked if there was a group behind organising this event. Mr Mansfield said there was and it was hoping to get support from various Town Council Committees, including Tourism & Leisure. Cllr Coltman supported the surfing community 100%. The level of surfing schools in the Town is fantastic and it had been a boom to the tourist industry. Boardmasters is a perfect example of this. Cllr Coltman queried how big the Cribbar wave could be? Mr Mansfield responded and said it is a sporadic wave. When it does arrive it can reach as high as 20ft. This is dependent on the weather at the time. Cllr Harrison said this would be a fantastic opportunity to celebrate Newquay and its surfing culture. It was proposed by Cllr J Coltman, Seconded by Cllr Mrs I Pascoe and RESOLVED unanimously to reconvene the meeting. At this time 1 member of the public left the meeting (7:24pm) T186/13 Risk Assessments/Terms of Reference/Aims & Objectives This item is on-going. Page 3 of 11
T187/13 Newquay BIDS update and discussions with BID Manager, to include update on the Business Case for the Signage Project and to make any recommendations i. Report from 20/20 Meeting Cllr Mrs Pascoe Cllr Mrs Pascoe said she had attended a very interesting presentation from 20/20 regarding the future signage project. Mrs Wooldridge had made it quite clear that the signage was intended to support summer tourism. There are to be signs directing people to the beach, shops and pubs. Cllr Mrs Pascoe was sad that the project didn t include signs for facilities such as car parks or hotels. Cllr Mrs Pascoe said that she had noticed the Town Council was contributing 20,000 towards the project and felt this was a lot of money with not much in return for the Town. Cllr Mrs Pascoe also gave Newquay BID Cllr Daniels drafted report on the Town Council notice boards, for information only. Cllr Harrison said it was disturbing that the important service signs are not to be replaced. Cllr Mrs Pascoe said it is intended to have signage directing people to the Bus and Railway stations. Mr Piwecki informed members that he had a discussion with Cllr Hannan, The Town Clerk and Eve Wooldridge earlier in the day regarding the Christmas Parade. Regrettably none of the aforementioned members could attend the Tourism & Leisure meeting. Cllr Hannan and Newquay BID wished to make a request of the T&L Committee. The Christmas Parade had historically been run by the EDGP Committee and generally had to rely on the goodwill of volunteers from the Lions clubs to manage road closure for the parade. This year Newquay BID have been asked to manage Town Council s contribution to the parade as there are higher priorities at this time, such as the Public Conveniences, CCTV and Christmas lighting. Unfortunately the EDGP Committee does not have a budget this year to contribute towards professional marshalling. The reason for this is because the majority is to be used on the repair of the Christmas and Decorative lighting infrastructure. Page 4 of 11
The EDGP Committee would like to make a request a loan of 500 from the Tourism & Leisure Committee budget to pay for professional street marshalling, rather than relying on volunteers for the Christmas Parade. This would be a short term loan and the 500 would be returned to Tourism & Leisure by a resolution at the next EDGP Committee meeting. The reason for doing this is that the EDGP Committee are not scheduled to meet until after the preparations for the Christmas parade. To organise the street marshalling a commitment would be needed from the Town Council this week. Cllr Coltman was minded to support the idea as the Town Council should have a more professionally managed parade. It s a huge marketing event for Newquay. Cllr Coltman would like to remind members they are all volunteers with second jobs or other responsibilities and it the marshalling should not be left to volunteers to manage the Christmas parade. This would effectively only be a loan and the money would be returned. Cllr Coltman s a strong believer in the Town Council working in unison and helping other Committees where possible. Cllr Mrs Pascoe asked what the issue was if the Lions clubs were provided marshalls for the Christmas Parade. Mr Piwecki said that the Lions clubs do a competent job regarding marshalling however they are volunteers and commitment is not guaranteed. They could turn away at any time. It was proposed by Cllr D Daniel, Seconded by Cllr Mrs I Pascoe and RESOLVED unanimously to contribute 500 to Event Cornwall for the managing of Newquay Town Council s role in the Christmas Parade subject to the return of those funds from the EDGP Committee at its next meeting. EDGP T188/13 - To receive the Town Crier s Report including events and notice boards. - Cllr Rainbow Cllr Rainbow said he was worried about the state of the Town Council s Notice Boards and has been for years. Page 5 of 11
Cllr Coltman asked what the situation was with the Notice Board at the Railway Station. Mr Piwecki said it had degraded so much that it looked unsightly. Mrs Deakin, of the Tourist Information Centre, refurbished it slightly with a Visit Newquay map. - Cllr Rainbow Cllr Rainbow said the Notice Boards are not regularly updated and this needed to be raised with the Town Crier. Cllr Daniel responded and said that the Town Crier had lost his keys and unfortunately could not unlock most of the Notice Boards as there were no spares. The mechanism to open the doors is complex and is not a simple replacement of a lock. Cllr Coltman said the Committee reached the conclusion at the last meeting to leave the Notice Boards until the Newquay BID signage project comes into play. Cllr Coltman was open to the Committees view on this. Cllr Harrison said local businesses could donate money to the Town Council to have them repaired. He was concerned that no one was willing to do anything because they may feel because the Notice Boards are Town Council assets. The perception is they cannot be touched. Cllr Mrs Pascoe said it would be worth identifying the worst 2 or 3 Notice Boards and going down the route of getting donations. Cllr Daniel asked if he could repair or refurbish the Notice Boards himself. Mr Piwecki responded and said that unfortunately Cllr Daniel could not do this as he would not be covered by insurance. Town Councillors cannot act on their own without Committee approval. The best idea would be to source 3 quotes for the work and then give delegated authority to two or more members to look into this. Page 6 of 11
Cllr Harrison said there is 2000 for the maintenance of Notice Boards. Mr Piwecki said this could be used however would add a note of caution that it had been earmarked for the BID signage project and was a previous commitment. Members agreed that Cllrs J Coltman, D Daniel and the Town Crier would continue to look into this situation. At this time Cllr J Rainbow left the meeting (7:55pm) T189/13 Town Crier s Competition This item was not discussed. T190/13 To Discuss and make any Decisions regarding the repair of Notice Boards This item was already discussed. T191/13 To Discuss and make any Decisions regarding a centralised marketing system for Newquay Events Cllr Coltman had made the centralised marketing system his pet project. Over the last few days he had compared different websites and his opinion was that the Visit Newquay site wasn t as good. Cllr Coltman will raise his concerns with Cllr Fitter. Cllr Coltman was informed the Tourist Information Centre only advertised events that it s informed of. He does not feel that events in Newquay are being promoted well enough. Cllr Coltman said a good way to promote events would be to inform the Taxi drivers in Newquay. Cllr Harrison said it was quite expensive to organise a large marketing campaign. The Tourist Information Centre does not have the budget for this and does the best it can. It cannot be compared to Newquay BID who employs a separate marketing company. Cllr Coltman said he did like how the Visit Newquay website was titled the only official website for Newquay however it did not show a month by month list of events. People come to Newquay and like to plan their holiday. Page 7 of 11
Cllr Harrison suggested putting a press release or radio advertisement out to inform people in Newquay about the ability to put their events on the Visit Newquay website. Cllr Mrs Pascoe said the Town Council does not use the local newspapers nearly enough. Cllr Harrison said these Newspapers are already being used however what is more important was to look at new ways of getting the message out. There s a lot of technology to do this, either through social media or the Internet. Mr Piwecki said he would work on a press release and radio advertisement to inform people about how to put events on the Visit Newquay website. Senior Assistant T192/13 Band Concerts to receive an update, make arrangements for next year and Car Parking Cllr Mrs Pascoe suggested the Committee try the first two Sundays in September for Band Concerts. Members were in agreement with this. T193/13 To discuss and make any decisions appertaining to the following; a. The notion of installing Flags at the Killacourt This item was deferred until the meeting in February 2014. b. To support Cornish Cultural Tourism attractions Members agreed that the Cribbar reunion came under this item and had already been discussed. Cllr Coltman said he had a meeting with Cllr Brown. The outcome of which was that the Circus Top could be available to the Town Council for its use, provided it had an event to go in it. Members discussed possible ideas and decided to bring them forth at the next meeting. It was proposed by Cllr D Daniel, Seconded by Cllr L Harrison and Page 8 of 11
RESOLVED unanimously to support in principle the Cribbar anniversary where possible. c. To support Beach Sports Volunteering Organisations This item was not discussed. d. Newquay Mini-Marathon Cllr Daniel said arranging the marathon would not be a problem. The East Cornwall Harriers are happy to look at Newquay to organise a route. e. The re-introduction of Newquay s 1900 s Week Cllr Coltman requested that NCCT look into this as it would involve the shop owners in Newquay. T194/13 To Discuss the Newquay Railway Station opening hours and make any Decisions Cllr Coltman said there s no automatic ticket dispenser machine at Newquay Railway Station and it was only open during May to September. Cllr Harrison said it s only a small branch line and they would only operate it at the bare minimum cost. There are many other ways to book seats for trains, including by mobile phone and the Internet. T195/13 To discuss and make any decisions on the Newquay Town Council Cookery Challenge Cllr Daniel said his proposal is to celebrate the current cookery talent in Newquay. This event would involve the Town and require local students to prepare dishes. The idea being that different restaurants would judge the competition and the food would be based on the cuisine which each restaurant served. It would give publicity to the restaurants also. Cllr Coltman felt it would be a brilliant idea but it reqied a lot of work. Page 9 of 11
Food is a big part of tourism in the Town. Mr Piwecki queried who would be overseeing the cooking process? Cllr Daniel said the students would not be alone and would be supervised by competent staff and their lecturers. Cllr Harrison said the idea would need support and sponsorship which could be difficult. He felt it would be difficult to convey to the restaurants what benefit they would get out of the proposal. Cllr Coltman agreed with Cllr Harrisons point and would like Cllr Daniels thoughts on how this was relevant to Tourism & Leisure. Cllr Daniel said the idea would be to promote quality food in Newquay to give tourists an idea where to go for a meal. Cllr Harrison said the proposal fitted far better with the EDGP Committee and suggested Cllr Daniel attends the next EDGP meeting to discuss the idea under Youth Initiative. It was proposed by Cllr L Harrison, Seconded by Cllr D Daniel and RESOLVED unanimously to refer this item to EDGP. EDGP T196/13 Newquay Carnival 2014 There was a meeting in October at the Griffin. No further update. T197/13 St Pirans Day Parade Members agreed to put forth ideas at the next meeting T198/13 Updates on how events are going in Newquay: This item was not discussed. Page 10 of 11
T199/13 Correspondence (if any): None. T200/13 - Items for discussion at the discretion of the Chairman T201/13 - Items for the next agenda: - Cribbar anniversary proposal for 2016. T&L Agenda T202/13 - Date, venue and time for the next meeting The next meeting will be held on Tuesday 12 th November 2013 at 7pm in the Committee Room, Marcus Hill, Newquay. The Chairman thanked those attending and the meeting closed at 8:51pm. Signed:. Cllr Coltman, Chairman Date: Page 11 of 11