Issue - meetings

It was reported at the Cabinet meeting that Thanet had a thriving events industry which appealed to both local residents and visitors, adding to the cultural offer of Thanet whilst improving the local economy. This year the district would be hosting approximately 280 varied events. Thanet District Council recognised both the economic impact that events bring in boosting the local economy and the costs to the Council for processing events, providing additional services and using Council land. A new fees and charges schedule was therefore being introduced through the Events Policy.

This charging schedule was based on the full cost recovery of providing additional services and resources for events, to ensure that they are not detract from other services. The Policy contained a number of key changes to help organisers plan effectively, undertake their responsibilities more easily and to make the charges easier to understand.

The policy will also designate premium or standard sites including clearer identification of what type of events can be held on each site, designate clearer event categories and introduce an application fee. Wide consultation on the draft policy had been undertaken and feedback received from the Overview and Scrutiny Panel, Events Safety Advisory Group, partners, members of the public, local businesses and event organisers. Members expressed their support for the policy framework to manage the process for organising events in the district.

The following Members spoke under Council Procedure Rule 20.1:

Councillor Bayford;

Councillor K. Gregory;

Councillor Game;

Councillor Taylor-Smith.

Councillor L. Fairbrass proposed, Councillor Brimm seconded and Members agreed the adoption of the Events Policy as per section 3.1 of the Cabinet report.

Councillor L. Fairbrass, Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Community Services introduced the report. She said that Council was committed to supporting events in the district. However it was worth noting that hosting of events did have implications for resources committed to this. The Council incurred costs in supporting events, hence the need to put in place an appropriate policy for supporting events in Thanet.

The policy would ensure that the Council recouped its costs through a schedule of fees and charges. The policy also defined clear roles and responsibilities that were shared between the Council and events organisers.

Penny Button, Head of Safer Neighbourhoods highlighted the following key features of the proposed policy:

1.  New events categories which would include Enthusiast, Charity Regional Charity National, Commercial Community and Active Recreation;

2.  Events sizes which include small and major;

3.  New Event Journey;

4.  New agreements and evaluations;

5.  Reserving sites for up to three years;

6.  Application fee;

7.  A deposit;

8.  Memorandum of agreement;

9.  Permission to occupy Council land for events organisers;

10.  Designation of Council land into prime and non-prime for events and conditions for accessing these sites.

Members said that the report made good reading and that the policy being proposed incorporated components that provide a useful basis for supporting events in the district. There was a request from Members for the policy to acknowledge the presence of local charities in the categories set out in the new policy proposal. They also requested that Parish/Town Councils should be included the consultation process.

Some Members were concerned that the policy appeared to propose that Council recoup all its costs which would be a significant burden on some of the local charities. Other Members were concerned about the levels of fees and charges to be charged, as they were too high. They queried whether the fees and charges will be reviewed at the same time as other fees and charges for Council services. They suggested that it would have been helpful if the report gave some brief comments about the consultation feedback. Penny Button agreed to find out from Waste & Recycling Department how charges for waste collection bins were worked out.

Members said that the policy should be quite clear and inform event organisers the full costs of hosting events upfront before they hold these events. In response, Rob Kenyon, Director of Community Services thanked the Panel for their contributions and agreed to incorporate some of the comments from the meeting into future versions of the policy proposal. He said that the policy is meant to enable council to recover the additional costs for providing additional services and was not meant to make a profit. The charges will be provided upfront, with a full quote provided to events organisers in advance of hosting the event.

One Member queried the wording regarding events cancellations and re-imbursements. Officers agreed to make the wording clearer in an updated version of the policy document. Some Members were concerned that the proposals  ...  view the full minutes text for item 63