Agenda item

To update members of the Performance Monitoring Panel on the South Holland Centre action plan(report of the Assistant Director – Leisure and Culture enclosed).

Consideration was given to the report of the Assistant Director – Leisure and Culture to update members of the Performance Monitoring Panel on the South Holland Centre action plan.

The Chairman introduced the item by stating that an agreement had been made with the Chairman of the Policy Development Panel to reconvene the joint Performance Monitoring Panel / Policy Development Panel South Holland Centre Task Group so that the delivery of the Task Group’s recommendations could be scrutinised.

The Communities Manager introduced the report which outlined:

• the re-opening strategy of the South Holland Centre;
• updates to the South Holland Centre Task Group recommendations at Appendix A; and
• the action plan of the Cabinet Subgroup at Appendix B.

Members considered the report and made the following comments:

·         Members welcomed the report, nonetheless an increased depth of information was required which would be scrutinised by the Task Group early in 2023. 

·         Some members expressed disappointment that the action plan had been approved by Cabinet without scrutiny.  Whilst members accepted that the industry was still in recovery, this had necessitated the immediate implementation of a business plan. The plan was deemed to be inadequate and the following key information had not been included:

o   clarity of the aims and objectives of the South Holland Centre as an asset;

o   an outline of what recovery looked like and how this would be monitored;

o   a plan of action should recovery of the South Holland Centre not progress as anticipated;

o   an incorporation of the whole building: the recovery plan needed to apply to all aspects including the catering option and offices; and

o   accompanying financial information.

·         The Communities Manager responded that the full business plan would come forward for implementation in the following financial year due to the following reasons:

o   the industry had shifted significantly post-Covid and changes had been experienced in customer attendance/behaviours, product availability and costs which needed to be analysed;

o   as a result, a three-month baseline of comparable data was required to inform the business plan for the next financial year. Some trends had already become apparent, and the Centre had achieved increased pantomime sales compared to the same period last year; and

o   business intelligence data continued to inform the business plan.

·         Members enquired as to whether the Communities Manager had received support in setting up the business plan.

·         The Communities Manager responded that:

§  the business plan had commenced with low-cost film screenings;

§  this was followed by live shows but the full business plan had awaited the input of Arts Council England objectives;

§  the interim period allowed for a more detailed assessment of which products were profitable;

§  networking with independent venues and sharing of intelligence had taken place; and

§  national audience attitudes were obtained through MetrixLab.

·         Concern was expressed regarding the promotion of the programme however this would be investigated by the Task Group. 

AGREED:

a)       That the content of the report and appendices be noted by the Performance Monitoring Panel;

b)      That an update on further progress be presented to the Panel in six months’ time; and

c)       That the South Holland Centre Task Group be reconvened in early 2023 to look at achievements made and for comparisons to be made with the  original recommendations of the South Holland Centre Task Group.