Report of the Strategic Director – Neighbourhoods.

This report provides a context for the current operating environment for events and how the ongoing development of the events programme continues to align with the City Council’s Event Strategy. Additional insight is provided on the Community Events programme - how it is facilitated and funded and how that is reflected in the geographic spread of activity – alongside updates on the progress made against previously identified areas of development and improvement to support community events.

The committee considered a report of the Strategic Director (Neighbourhoods) which provided a context for the current operating environment for events and how the ongoing development of the events programme continues to align with the City Council’s Events Strategy. It provided additional insight on the Community Events programme and updates on the progress made against previously identified areas of development and improvement to support community events.

Key points and themes within the report included:

• Providing an introduction and background to the Manchester Events Strategy;
• The event programme for 2023;
• The Community Events Fund (CEF) Programme, and the challenges faced by this;
• The funding and geographic spread of the Community Events Programme;
• The eligibility criteria for Community Events Funding;
• Confirmation that bonfire and firework events would not be reinstated going forward;
• How sustainability was considered at events funded by the CEF; and
• Work would be undertaken withthe Equalities, Diversity, and Inclusion team to progress to identify how the staging of events can potentially impact on people with protected characteristics who are beyond the event footprint and may fall outside of the direct responsibility of the event organiser.

Key points and queries that arose from the committee’s discussions included:

• Welcoming the Council’s support of community events;
• Requesting clarification on a number of events listed in the report which received CEF funding but did not appear to meet the criteria for such funding;
• How external businesses and traders attending events are encouraged to comply with the Council’s commitment to reducing single-use plastics;
• The need to strengthen sustainability requirements for events, noting that there is no requirement to acknowledge the Sustainability Check when booking Council-owned land for events;
• Whether there would be a public awareness campaign on upcoming legislation to ban retailers, takeaways, food vendors and the hospitability industry providing single-use cutlery, plates and bowls;
• How the geographic spread of events within the city could be improved;
•  What events will be included in the programme of autumn and winter activities to replace bonfire displays;
• How income generated by events benefits local communities;
• The need to hold more free events and to diversify the locations where these events are held;
• Why Pride events were included within the report, given that major events fall under the remit of the Economy and Regeneration Scrutiny Committee;
• What local events are delivered in individual neighbourhoods; and
• How many events received CEF funding recurrently and whether this impacted the ability for new events to benefit from this funding.

The Executive Member for Skills, Employment and Leisure explained that the Council’s Events Strategy was adopted in 2019 and acknowledged the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and cost-of-living crisis on events across the city. He stated that this had changed the types of and opportunities for events taking place in Manchester and the capacity and venue offers in the city.

The Head of Events Development explained that 13 of the events listed within the report were funded by CEF with the remainder funded or facilitated through other mechanisms. He stated that a separate list of all events funded by CEF could be provided to members, which would demonstrate how these events met the criteria for CEF funding.

Members were advised that the use of the term ‘citywide’ when referring to primary event location within the report related to where attendees were drawn from. The Head of Events Development highlighted that certain major events were held in one location, such as a park, but attendees would travel from across and beyond the city to attend.

In response to queries around sustainability and single-use plastics, the Executive Member for Vibrant Neighbourhoods stated that a citywide licensing consultation was currently underway with a specific section on sustainability and members would have sight of this before being considered by the Executive. She also explained that a refresh of the Parks Strategy was being undertaken and would examine how the Council acted sustainably and how events were run in line with this.

The Parks Lead highlighted that it was often easier for large-scale commercial events to reduce the use of single-use plastics and cited the Christmas Markets as an example of this and highlighted that Parklife Festival was trialling a cup return scheme. It was hoped that trialling such schemes and measures within large events would create guidance around best practice which could be shared with smaller organisations and community groups.

It was also explained that event bookers would be asked the detail their considerations of sustainability measures from 2024.

In response to the Chair’s query regarding whether there would be a public awareness campaign on upcoming legislation to single-use items within the hospitality sector, the Parks Lead stated that marketing and educational material was still awaited from the government. She advised that early engagement work had been undertaken with businesses across the city to advise them of changes.

The Director of Neighbourhood Delivery recognised that local groups were hosting events across the city regularly which the Council was unaware of and that the Council wanted to support these groups to ensure that events were safe, regardless of their scale. He stated that the Council would be happy to provide advice to any group holding an event.

The Parks Lead advised that local engagement had been undertaken to ensure a winter programme of events and activities that reflected what communities wanted. She explained that a range of activities and events were held in 2022 across all parks which previously held bonfire displays. It was agreed that further detail on this would be provided in a future report.

The committee was advised that the Council had a long-standing history of commercial and community events taking place in parks and this had been a theme in the Parks Strategy launched in 2017. The Parks Lead explained that parks were subsidised through investment from the Council but there remained a need to generate income for maintenance. She stated that revenue from events was used to reduce the gap between income and expenditure and also helped to ensure the quality of parks. It was also stated that the Council was looking at investment plans at a number of sites, including Platt Fields, to promote future opportunities for investment.

The Executive Member for Vibrant Neighbourhoods acknowledged members’ points regarding the need for more free events and to diversify the location of these across the city. She noted that access to infrastructure can be a challenge in smaller parks but noted that it was a key consideration in the refresh of the Parks Strategy.

It was clarified that the Events team fund the Manchester Pride Parade and not events within the Gay Village. This funding was used to support road closures and the overall operation of the Parade, which was felt to be justified as a free-to-access element of the Pride weekend.

The Executive Member for Skills, Employment and Leisure explained that larger events had a significant economic impact and so, fell under the remit of the Economy and Regeneration Scrutiny Committee whilst the delivery and operational elements of events formed part of the Council’s Events Strategy.

In response to a query from the Chair regarding CEF-funded events which took place across local communities/neighbourhoods and whether these were spread evenly across all 32 wards, the Executive Member for Vibrant Neighbourhoods explained that any events which were held in parks fell under the remit of Environment, Climate Change and Neighbourhoods Scrutiny Committee and stated that an update on these kinds of events would be included in the next Parks Strategy report to that committee.

Detail on the number of recurring events in receipt of CEF funding would be provided outside of the meeting. 

The Strategic Director (Neighbourhoods) advised that reports on major events were considered by the Economy and Regeneration Scrutiny Committee due to their economic impact on the city, whereas smaller events were within the remit of this committee due to their impact on and benefits for communities. He noted that there was a limited amount of CEF funding and that more targeted work was needed to identify the scale and demographics of attendees. It was stated that there were lots of neighbourhood-based events which the Council was not involved in and there were no central funding schemes available for these. He provided assurances that the Events and Neighbourhoods teams would continue to explore ways to increase investment opportunities for neighbourhood events.   

Decision:

That the committee

1. notes the report;
2. requests further information on all CEF-funded events, including how these meet the criteria for funding, their reach and location, and whether these are recurring events;
3. requests that a further report be provided in 6 months; and
4. requests that information on the geographical reach of events be provided for each event included in future reports.