Agenda and draft minutes

Councillors Merfyn Parry and Graham Timms declared personal interests in item 5, “Denbighshire as a Tourism and Events Location”.

No urgent matters were raised.

Responding to a query from Councillor Meirick Lloyd Davies on why non-committee members had been excluded from the pre-meeting briefing session, the Scrutiny Co-ordinator advised that the Scrutiny Chairs and Vice-Chairs Group had asked the Committee to trial the effectiveness of holding a pre-meeting briefing session for committee members in enhancing the quality of the outcome of the scrutiny process.  She agreed to raise with the Scrutiny Chairs and Vice-Chairs Group at their next meeting in October whether non-committee members should be permitted to attend such briefings in future.

To receive the minutes of the Communities Scrutiny Committee held on 20 July 2017 (copy enclosed).

The minutes of the meeting of the Communities Scrutiny Committee held on 20 July 2017 were submitted.

Matters Arising – Item 7 – Consideration of Free Parking for Disabled Badge Holders.

Councillor Graham Timms raised the issue of an inaccurate article in the press regarding the charges for parking for disabled badge holders.

The Head of Customers, Communication & Marketing responded by informing Members that the report in the press had been vague but that Denbighshire had published the correct information in the first instance in its press release.

RESOLVED  that the minutes of the meeting held on 20 July 2017, be received and approved as a correct record.

To consider a report (copy attached) on the work undertaken by the Tourism Team to promote Denbighshire as a tourism and events location and make recommendations on how to further develop tourism in the county.

The Leader, Councillor Hugh Evans, introduced the report (previously circulated) to detail the work undertaken by the Tourism Team to promote and sell Denbighshire as a tourism and events location with particular focus on partnership work with the Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB), the development and refinement of the Events Application process and the innovation and development work undertaken.

The Leader advised the Committee that both he and the staff wanted to hear scrutiny’s views on the work undertaken to attract tourists to Denbighshire and the effectiveness of the partnership approach taken with respect of tourism increasing the value of the tourist spend in the county.  They were also keen to receive scrutiny’s observations on whether the County’s Tourism Strategy was sustainable and one that would effectively contribute towards the Council’s long-term ambition of developing the economy.  Denbighshire was fortunate that it had a wide range of tourist attractions.  It also had three ‘trunk’ roads crossing the county along which thousands of tourists travelled to various holiday destinations in North Wales, the North West of England and the Midlands region.  It was, therefore, important for Denbighshire’s economy to entice the travelling tourists off the trunk roads to visit the county’s towns, attractions, accommodation, eateries etc., to spend their money in the area. 

The Team Leader (Tourism, Marketing and Events) outlined to the Committee the benefits to the Council and the county of the partnership work with Flintshire and Wrexham councils in relation to tourism and events work, particularly as Denbighshire only had a small number of officers working in the field.  Officers from all three counties, as well as Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) representatives, met as the North East Wales Tourism Partnership on a monthly basis to plan and progress work.  In recent months they had:

·       successfully secured £40K worth of funding from the Welsh Government (WG) towards promotional work for the 2018 Year of the Sea theme.  Having regard to the fact that only a section of the North East Wales area actually had a coastline the partnership had focussed its bid on ‘routes to the sea’ emphasising the tourist offer in the area on the way to the shore as well as the offer at the seaside and on the sea itself;

·       been working closely with tourist based businesses on the Tourism Ambassador Scheme.  They focussed on what various types of tourist businesses could do to promote other businesses which may benefit from tourists.  Rural Development Programme (RDP) funding had recently been secured by Cadwyn Clwyd to enhance this scheme further via the development of a web-based model to attract more participants and ensure the Scheme’s sustainability for the future;

·       been involved with the car parks task and finish group’s work exploring how the county’s public car parks could be better utilised to signpost and promote the area’s tourist attractions and businesses to tourists.  This work was continuing.

With a view to supporting event organisers Denbighshire’s Tourism Team had developed a new, far less cumbersome, ‘events notification process’.  Work had taken place recently to refine this process.  As a result, event organisers would only be required to complete a two page notification form which would cover all aspects associated with holding an event, including licensing requirements, road closures etc.  The use of this single notification process would be trialled from January 2018.   It was now apparent that an increasing number of tourists were utilising social media sites for the purpose of obtaining tourist related information and it was therefore crucial that the Council regularly updated social media in an innovative manner.  Whilst the use  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

A copy of a report by the Scrutiny Co-ordinator, which requested the Committee to review and agree its Forward Work Programme and which provided an update on relevant issues, had been circulated with the papers for the meeting.

A copy of the Members Proposal Form had been included in Appendix 2.  The Cabinet Forward Work Programme had been included as Appendix 3, and a table summarising recent Committee resolutions and advising on progress with their implementation had been attached at Appendix 4.

During the discussion on the Committee’s Forward Work Programme, a number of members commented on how useful holding a pre-meeting briefing session for the Committee had been.  On this basis they asked that the practice continue for the foreseeable future.

RESOLVED subject to the above to approve the Committee’s Forward Work Programme.

None.

The meeting concluded at 11.55 a.m.