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Minutes of the Tourism Committee held in the Town Hall, Bideford on Tuesday 10th July 2018 at 6.00 pm

PRESENT:

East Ward:

Councillor J McKenzie
Councillor Mrs J Gubb
Councillor Mrs R Craigie

North Ward:

Councillor D Bushby

South Ward (Outer):

Councillor D Howell

IN ATTENDANCE:   Mrs L Dixon-Chatfield (Town Clerk’s Asst)


016.    APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE

Councillor D McGeough (North Ward) – work, Mrs Ruth Benney (Atlantic Village)

017.    DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST ON ITEMS ON THE AGENDA

There were no declarations made at this point in the meeting.

018.    PUBLIC PARTICIPATION SESSION

There were no members of the public present

019.    MINUTES

The Minutes of the Meeting held on Tuesday 5th June 2018 were approved and signed as a correct record.

(Vote For: 4, Against: 0, Abstentions: 1)

020.    TO DISCUSS BIDEFORD FAIR AND LOOK AT NEXT YEAR’S EVENT AND, IF APPROPRIATE, RECOMMEND TO COUNCIL ANY ACTIONS REQUIRED

The Chairman felt that this year had been quieter than last, although the weather was perfect. He expressed his concern that the event was not what the Community wanted. Councillor Bushby reported that he had spoken to several people that evening who said that they had not realised the event was taking place.
The Chairman considered that he had covered all angles of advertising the event with the local press and radio. He had pushed hard on social media two weeks prior to the event and then harder again a week before. He had sent posters around and given out a huge amount of flyers.
He added that the event had not been a total failure and that donations had amounted to over £300 from stallholders.

Councillor Bushby agreed that the event was not a flop but conceded that the weather was very hot.
All members agreed that it would be a good idea to look at some of the attractions and make some changes to encourage a wider range of visitors.

Councillor Bushby suggested the matter be discussed further at the next meeting, giving members a chance to look at ways to make changes.

The Chairman agreed and added that it may be necessary to increase the budget for the event.

021.   TO RECEIVE AN UPDATE ON THE PROGRESS OF THE FILM/VIDEO OF BIDEFORD BEING MADE AT KINGSLEY SCHOOL

Councillor McKenzie played a first draft of the film for members to comment on.
He had spoken with the School and they had expected more video clips to work with. Overall, members were impressed with the film but felt that there did need to be more content and that perhaps make it longer – 6 minutes and then have that broken down into different 2 minute clips.

The Chairman suggested that the piece we have is put onto YouTube with the correct wording to invite comments and more images.

All members were happy with the music that accompanied the images.

The Chairman thanked Councillor McKenzie.

022.    TO RECEIVE AN UPDATE ON THE SITING FOR A MOBILE BILLBOARD FOR ADVERTISING TOWN COUNCIL EVENTS AND, IF APPROPRIATE, RECOMMEND TO COUNCIL ANY ACTIONS REQUIRED.

The Clerk gave members the information she had received from Torridge District Council and Devon County Council regarding ownership of the land around Kingsley corner.

The Chairman asked her to go back to Torridge District Council to put the outline of the plan to them regarding siting a mobile billboard and get their response.

Councillor Bushby stated that the next step would be to get prices for the advertising hoardings that would go on the billboard. The Clerk agreed to obtain prices. The Councillor informed her that they would be self-adhesive and would give her different sizes.

023.    TO DISCUSS PROGRESS ON A COLLABORATION BETWEEN TOURISM AND MARKET MANAGEMENT COMMITTEES REGARDING A CHRISTMAS EVENT IN THE PANNIER MARKET.

The Chairman considered that time was running out for a collaboration for a Christmas Event at the Pannier Market.

Councillor Craigie said that traders were keen to do something. The Chairman suggested to her that if anyone at the Pannier Market were interested, then to get in touch with him.

He suggested that it may be prudent to try again for next year, or in fact for Easter and asked Councillors Craigie and McKenzie to mention it at the next Market Management Meeting.

024.    TO CONSIDER THE “COMMEMORATIVE TOMMIES” AND THE “THERE BUT NOT THERE” CAMPAIGN WITH THE SITING AROUND THE TOWN OF “TOMMIES” TO MARK THE OCCASION OF THE 100TH ANNIVERSARY OF WWI. IF APPROPRIATE, RECOMMEND TO COUNCIL ANY ACTIONS REQUIRED.

The Clerk had good news on the wire “Tommies”. Councillor Tony Inch had visited the Town Hall and informed her that he had spoken with Mrs Jenny Wallace (HOPS) at Torridge District Council who was willing to long-term loan this Council one of the Tommies Councillor Tony Inch suggested it be placed at the Port Memorial.

The Chairman asked the Clerk to contact Mrs Wallace regarding the request and make any necessary arrangements. The Clerk said she would need to look at insurance also. She had spoken to the Maintenance Team who would take a look at how to fix the silhouette which stands 6ft high and is on a base plate with fixing holes.

The Clerk also suggested she request the second “Tommie” to borrow for the Beacon Lighting at Pollyfield on 11th November this year.

The Chairman thanked the Clerk and asked her to proceed with the requests.

025.    TO RECEIVE UPDATES ON A FOUNDING FATHERS ANNIVERSARY EVENT IN 2020. IF APPROPRIATE, RECOMMEND TO COUNCIL ANY ACTIONS REQUIRED.

The Chairman gave a brief account of the previous meeting with Nick White of the North Devon Marketing Bureau (NDMB) regarding inferred funding for an event in North Devon marking the 2020 anniversary. Although, he pointed out, an event in Bideford would be marking the Town’s own links with the Americas.

The Chairman had drafted an email to Mr White outlining plans for an event and requesting funding in the region of £20k. He was not entirely confident about getting the full amount but would be happy with something to use as match-funding. It would be worth trying both Bridge Trust and this Council for further funding.

Plans for the event would include heritage ships. The Clerk had contacted the owners of the John Cabot ship “The Matthew” as well as the “Kathleen and May” and “ms Oldenburg”. The Chairman had spoken with the owner of “ss Freshpring” who would be happy to assist with other heritage ships and boats.
The event would have a strong maritime theme based on the River Torridge and would include gig-racing, a date would be heavily influenced by the tide and would need to be in the summer months – preferably July or August.

Members discussed other activities including historical re-enactments and cultural information from the time about what was traded ie pottery, salt cod, tobacco.

All agreed that it would need to be an extravaganza and could not be executed on a small budget. Advertising and marketing the event would need to be carefully selected in order to get a wider audience.

The Chairman concluded by suggesting that he hoped to have an answer from Mr White before the next meeting in October.

027.    TO RECEIVE AN UPDATE ON THE ARCH/PILLARS AT THE ENTRANCE TO COOPER STREET AND, IF APPROPRIATE, RECOMMEND TO COUNCIL ANY ACTIONS REQUIRED.

The Chairman confirmed that he and fellow Councillors Bushby and McGeough had met with a local businessman to discuss the decoration of Cooper Street. Bill and Peach Shaw had been involved in previous discussions for a decorative arch and were now looking at an alternative way of enhancing Cooper Street. As a working group it was discussed that 2 or 3 or more of the 3 dimensional structures would be located in places along the street with property owner’s permission.

The local businessman was prepared to pay for one of the statues (the term used by the artists) and would be getting firm prices for further structures as well as the designs.

The Chairman stated his ambition was to have 3 in the Street.

Councillor Mrs Craigie had been at the Bridge Trust when the subject for funding had been discussed. She informed members that the Bridge Trust were not interested as the project had no charitable aspect.

The Chairman was confident that the project would progress well.

028.    TO RECEIVE UPDATES FROM MEMBERS ON IDEAS FOR HERITAGE STREET FURNITURE IN MILL STREET AND RECOMMEND, IF APPROPRIATE, TO COUNCIL ANY ACTIONS REQUIRED.

Councillor Bushby has taken a walk with the Economic Development Officers from Torridge District Council (TDC) through Mill Street and Cooper Street to look at how to enhance Mill Street. He firstly wanted to say that Cooper Street is looking very pretty with the hanging baskets. He wanted to know why this couldn’t be done in Mill Street. The TDC officers had informed him that they have a small pot of money as a residue of funding and providing hanging baskets would be a good way to spend it. Councillor Bushby wanted to know about fixing the baskets. The Chairman pointed out that a lot of buildings have Christmas tree brackets and that perhaps some kind of fastening could be added to the bracket. The Chairman suggested that he and Councillor Bushby take it to Town Council with a Notice of Motion.

The Chairman concluded that a check needed to be done with DS Electrical (the Christmas Lights contractor) and it would need to be confirmed how much the funding was valued at.

029.    TO RECEIVE AN UPDATE ON THE KENWITH RAILWAY LINE FOOTPATH ROUTE AND RECOMMEND, IF APPROPRIATE TO COUNCIL ANY ACTIONS REQUIRED.

The Chairman was waiting to hear back from the Devon County Councillor (DCC) Mrs Linda Hellyer regarding an update. The Clerk had received an email from her giving contact details of who is now heading up the project at County. The Clerk had forwarded this to Councillor Christie for him to pursue and update this Committee in due course.

030.    Date of the next meeting will be Tuesday 2 October 2018 at 6.00pm..

The business of the meeting having been completed, the Chairman thanked the members for their attendance and the meeting concluded at 7.05 pm.


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