Report of the Strategic Director (Neighbourhoods)

This report summarises the ongoing challenges facing the event sector as a result of the Covid 19 pandemic, the subsequent impact on community event remobilisation through the 2022-23 recovery period in Manchester and how the City Council is supporting community event partners to rebuild and reconnect with their communities. The paper outlines the current funding arrangements in place through the Community Event Fund (CEF) and identifies additional areas for development and improvement that are being targeted throughout the 2022-23 financial year to strengthen the capabilities of event partners and reset the baseline against which future funding should be assigned.

The Committee received a report of the Strategic Director (Neighbourhoods) which summarised the ongoing challenges facing the event sector as a result of the Covid 19 pandemic, the subsequent impact on community event remobilisation through the 2022-23 recovery period in Manchester and how the City Council was supporting community event partners to rebuild and reconnect with their communities. The paper outlined the current funding arrangements in place through the Community Event Fund (CEF) and identified additional areas for development and improvement

that were being targeted throughout the 2022-23 financial year to strengthen the capabilities of event partners and reset the baseline against which future funding should be assigned.

The main points and themes within the report included:

• Post Covid 19 overview of the UK events sector;
• Manchester’s event recovery response;
• Community Events Funding 2022/23;
• Strengthening capabilities relating to community events;
• Event sustainability;
• Protect Duty;
• Equalities and diversity; and
• Economic and social impact measurement.

Some of the key points that arose from the Committee’s discussions were:

• The success of the Wythenshawe Games, the challenge each year with securing funding for it and that events funding should be provided for the Wythenshawe Games;
• Concern that the same groups were being funded each year and that new groups should be able to access the funding;
• The re-distribution of funds generated by large, commercial events to help fund community events;
• To recognise the important role of volunteers in running events and concern that there were lower volunteer numbers after lockdown; and
• The impact of the Protect Duty.

The Events Lead reported that the Council would like to increase its community events budget and that one way of doing this would be to bring more commercial activities into a park such as Wythenshawe Park and then use that money to fund other local, community activities.  He advised that the Council would also like to reduce the amount of funding provided to existing partners but that this had been impacted by the pandemic.  He reported that the Wythenshawe Games did not submit a funding application in the current year so could not have been considered and that he was aware that it had been funded through other routes previously; however, if an application was submitted in the future, it would be considered against the criteria.  In response to a question from the Chair, he advised that the criteria was published when the funding was advertised and applications were evaluated against that but that the applications for funding normally outstripped the amount of funding available.  The Executive Member for Skills, Employment and Leisure reported that he would discuss with officers how to ensure that the publicity about the funding scheme was shared with different groups.

The Chair requested that the Committee receive a further report at an appropriate time which included the criteria for funding, the Manchester Events Strategy and an update on work on the additional areas for development and improvement which were referred to in the report.  The Executive Member for Skills, Employment and Leisure offered to circulate the criteria for the fund to Members of the Committee.  Members requested that the timetable for the scheme and the Equality Impact Assessment also be circulated.  In response to a Member’s question on the sports programme across the city, the Executive Member for Skills, Employment and Leisure agreed to circulate information on sports activities that were being funded across the city.  In response to a Member’s question about event sustainability, he referred Members to a report on Climate Change and Events which had been submitted to the Committee’s meeting on 11 January 2022 and asked the Scrutiny Support Officer to circulate this to the Committee Members.  The Commercial Lead outlined some of the work taking place to improve sustainability and advised that information on the impact of this would be included in the next report.

The Events Lead acknowledged the Member’s comments about volunteers, stating that the number of volunteers had decreased but that, as many events had not taken place yet, the extent of this impact was not yet known.  In response to a Member’s request, he advised that information on the geographic spread of the funded events could be included in the next report.  He reported that the Protect Duty was forthcoming legislation which would put additional responsibilities on community event organisers to provide better protection from terrorism.  In response to a question from the Chair, he advised that this was likely to lead to increased security costs for event organisers but that, as the legislation was not published yet, this could not be confirmed.

Decisions

1.            To receive a further report at an appropriate time which includes the Manchester Events Strategy, information on the geographic spread of the funded events and an update on work on the additional areas for development and improvement referred to in the report.

2.            To request that the Executive Member for Skills, Employment and Leisure circulate the criteria and timetable for the Community Events Fund, along with the Equality Impact Assessment and information on sports activities that are currently being funded across the city.

3.            To ask the Scrutiny Support Officer to circulate the report on Climate Change and Events, which was considered at the Committee’s meeting on 11 January 2022, to Members of the Committee.