Agenda item

To consider and scrutinise the Destination Management Plan for Blackpool, covering the period 2015-2017.

The Committee resolved to adjourn for a short break and the meeting reconvened at 7.05 p.m.

Mr Alan Cavill, Director of Place presented the Destination Management Plan for the Committee to consider. He reported that recent visitor numbers to the town had been the highest they had been since data had started to be collected in 1999. However, it was considered that there needed to be continual investment and improvements in the town, in order to boost the tourist economy further. Mr Cavill explained that the Destination Management Plan set out how that was going to be achieved in the period 2015-2017.

Mr Cavill advised Members of the economic value of tourism to Blackpool, reporting that the industry supported more than 24,000 jobs as well as indirectly supporting other jobs within the town and that approximately £1.295 billion was generated in the local economy as a result of visitor and tourism business expenditure in 2013.

The Committee was provided with details about planned improvements in order to boost tourism. Those improvements included improving the quality of hotel stock within the town as well as rolling out a Visit England entry level accreditation scheme, attracting ‘higher end’ retail and restaurant brands to the town and developing the ‘city life on the beach’ aspirational brand position. It was explained that this was not a marketing slogan but an ethos that underpinned Blackpool’s unique destination values.

The Committee considered the priorities included within the Destination Management Plan and Mr Cavill advised that the key growth targets were not merely aspirational, they were all measurable and that the series of actions identified to achieve those targets were all deliverable.

Members raised a number of questions and Mr Cavill reported that the Council worked with all accredited hotels, not just the larger four and five star hotels. The benefit for hotels to become accredited was that they could then advertise with the Council, the Council would place people in those hotels during conferences and the hotels would be eligible to offer packages and promotional offers for shows, for instance the show currently running, Cats.

The Committee also discussed potential future uses for the old King Edward Cinema and the development of the Central Station site. Mr Cavill reported that The Police Station was being relocated to the former site of Progress House and discussions regarding the relocation of the County and Magistrates courts to new sites within Blackpool, possibly to the Central Business District, were on-going. It was also reported that work undertaken by potential developers in the past for the Central Station Site had suggested the front of the old cinema building could be retained, possibly as a gateway for the rest of the site.

The Committee challenged the timescales in place for the development, after considering that there had been suggestions for development for a number of years now. Mr Cavill stated that the intention was to enter the market for a developer of the site by the end of the year.

A question from the Committee was asked in relation to Carnesky’s Ghost Train. Mr Cavill reported to the Committee that it had recently been sold to the Pleasure Beach with the understanding that it would have been taken down before the end of May 2015. Mr Cavill assured Members that enquiries would be made as to the reasons for it not having been taken down yet.

Following further questioning from the Committee, Mr Cavill reported that work was being undertaken to identify and develop suitable new locations of motorhomes, but any potential sites would need to be consulted upon.

The Committee agreed to note the report and requested that future reports be presented to Committee meetings detailing the progress made against the targets identified in the Destination Management Plan.

Background papers: None.

(Note - Councillor Rowson, having declared a prejudicial interest left the meeting room for the duration of this item).