Make it York activities scaled back

Make It York’s economic development arm is set to merge its expertise with the council’s, “to maximise resources and strengthen York’s future, as arrangements for the city’s destination management organisation are set to be agreed by senior councillors”.

In February, the council’s Executive agreed arrangements for the next contract between City of York Council and Make It York (MIY) in order to secure an even stronger future for both organisations.

This includes both organisations merging their economic development and inward investment functions with the council taking the lead. This merger was approved by 87% of city stakeholders who took part in a consultation on proposals for MIY’s future earlier this year.

Under the proposals, Make It York would continue to support the city centre, its markets and tourism through activities that include culture and events. MIY’s revised role, performance measures and governance are also set to be clarified.

There may continue to be misgivings about how MIY manages City centre activities.

There was a recent controversy about the location of the traditional Carousel while some residents point to the lack of a Farmers Market in the forward programme.

Relationships between market stall holders and the organisation have not always been harmonious.

Even by York Council standards, Make it York has a largely impenetrable decision making and accountability structure.

Carousel faces uncertain future in York

It seems that, once again, York’s traditional Carousel ride may struggle to find a pitch if coronavirus restrictions are eased next month.

The ride proved to be very popular before Christmas when it was located on Parliament Street.

So far, “Make it York” has failed to guarantee its traditional location on Kings Square where food stalls are being given priority.

There is adequate alternative space available on St Sampson’s Square and Parliament Street although, so far, Make it York has allocated the site near Marks and Spencer’s for use by a drinkers tent.

We think it would be a shame if this family attraction was ditched in favour of the alcohol economy.

“Make it York” should agree an appropriate site with the Carousel owners.

Public asked to comment on priorities for Make It York

Businesses, residents and stakeholders are being asked to share their thoughts on the future priorities of Make It York.

City of York Council are asking businesses, stakeholders and residents to share their thoughts on how Make It York can best work for the city, whilst the future priorities for the organisation are being considered.

The council-owned organisation carries out destination management and marketing functions on behalf of the city, including tourism, inward investment, business support, culture, events and city centre management.

The council are asking people to share their views through their online survey, which can be accessed online from 19 February until 15 March.

With the future priorities of Make It York currently taking shape, councillors will be asked to approve a finalised Service Level Agreement (SLA) once the feedback from the consultation and stakeholders has been assessed. The Council’s Executive approved the outline terms of an new contract (SLA) for the period of 2021-24 at a public meeting on 11th February 2021.

Cllr Andrew Waller, Executive Member for Economy and Strategic Planning, said:

We are very keen to hear from businesses and residents across York about how they think Make It York can best support the city, especially with a consideration of economic development functions, the city centre and areas outside of the city walls, the visitor economy and York’s cultural offering.

“We are at a critical moment where the future direction and priorities for Make It York are to be set, and we want the businesses and people of York to play a key role in deciding the way forward.”

“Make it York” tourist organisation heading for £1 million loss.

Faces closure within weeks unless bail out agree by York Council

A report to a York Council meetings shows its “Make it York” subsidiary could post a £1.2 million loss during the present financial year.

It means that the Directors of the, wholly Council owned, tourist business could be forced to wind up the organisation within the next few weeks.

The Council is being asked to step in and provide a substantial financial subsidy. The proposals include plans to;

Waive the requirement for MIY to make a revenue return to the council in 20/21 in respect of trading activity across the city centre
Defer the first two quarters rent due from MIY in 20/21 for use of premises on Museum Street and Silver Street offices
A loan facility from the council of £300k to be accessed by MIY only if necessary
provide a letter of guarantee to MIY with access to a maximum of £1m over the next 2 years should it be required.

MIY normally produces a net income to the Council of around £35,000. The company is responsible for tourist information services in the City, runs the Shambles market, organises special events like the Christmas Fair (cancelled this year) and promotes the City as a business destination.

Private sector membership of the organisation has collapsed in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic with the hospitality industry being one of the hardest hit. Redundancies at MIY are expected.

The immediate hit on the Councils budget will be the loss of income from the Shambles market. This will be in the order of £474,000. That figure may grow substantially if the organisations recovery plan is not successful during the next few years.

MIY is the second tourist organisation to seek taxpayers help. The Council agreed to provide a further £55,000 subsidy for Welcome to Yorkshire at its last meeting.

Councils decision making in limbo?

Each week the York Council updates a list of upcoming “decisions” that it intends to make. It is known as the forward programme and covers a four month period. It lists issue areas and gives the date that a decision meeting will take place on.

The intention is to give back bench councillors and members of the public advance notice that changes may be proposed.

City of York - York City Council Meeting 12/17/2019 — York Council meeting – archive photo!

The system has always been slightly opaque with some quite obscure descriptions covering potentially radical change. Nevertheless, the system works after a fashion and was sustained during the peak of the COVID crisis.

During that time decisions were delegated to officials on the basis that they needed to act promptly to address health concerns.

The York Council has been slow to get back to a fully transparent and democratic decision-making process, with meetings still taking place “online”.

Many may think that this is not a bad thing as far as what are termed “executive member decision meetings” are concerned. Essentially this involves one person siting in a room solemnly declaring agreement with often mundane officer recommendations. Provided that written representations are allowed and recorded, remote meetings of this sort have the advantage of avoiding unnecessary travel (and can be viewed live on video by interested parties).

Meeting to consider community stadium shelves

The Councils planning and scrutiny processes are rather different.

There some real debate and probing is necessary to ensure that all options are fully understood and considered. Other Councils have returned to “live” meetings. York should follow suit.

It could start by scheduling its first full Council meeting for 6 months.

The latest “forward plan” suggests that a backlog of work is building up. No fewer than 7 items which have been included on the plan – in some cases for over 6 months – are now shelved.

There is no indication when, or even if, decisions will be made.

They include a review of Homelessness, the agenda for which was published last week and then hastily withdrawn without explanation.

Another report was intended to provide an update on the commercial arrangements at the new Community Stadium complex. There is no clue given as to when a report will be ready despite the start of the new football season being imminent.

Several of the deferred items relate to housing issues. A new Head of Housing has recently been appointed. He will need to get to grips quickly with the backlog.

In the meantime the Council should either schedule the shelved meetings or withdraw them for the list

The deferred items include

25. Homeless Review 2019-20 Decision maker: Executive Member for Housing & Safer Neighbourhoods Decision due: ; The original meeting this item was scheduled to be considered at has been cancelled, therefore this item has been postponed until a new meeting date has been identified. Originally due: 25/08/20 Notice of proposed decision first published: 28/07/2020
26. Make it York Service Level Agreement Decision maker: Executive Member for Culture, Leisure and Communities Decision due: ; In consultation with the Executive Member for Economy and Strategic Planning Originally due: 14/04/20 Notice of proposed decision first published: 24/02/2020
27. Project Executive Fee Level Decision maker: Executive Member for Children, Young People and Education Originally due: 21/04/20 Notice of proposed decision first published: 02/03/2020
28. NSLC Commercial proposals (Community Stadium) Decision maker: Executive Decision due: ; This item has been deferred to enable a more detailed report to be prepared. Originally due: 13/02/20 Notice of proposed decision first published: 13/01/2020
29. Organisational Development (OD) Plan Decision maker: Executive Originally due: 23/04/20 Notice of proposed decision first published: 16/03/2020
30. Garden Assistance for CYC Tenants Decision maker: Executive Member for Housing & Safer Neighbourhoods Originally due: 30/04/20 Notice of proposed decision first published: 03/02/2020
31. Communal Areas Policy (Housing Owned Land) Decision maker: Executive Member for Housing & Safer Neighbourhoods Originally due: 14/05/20 Notice of proposed decision first published: 03/02/2020

£100K proposed investment for new campaign to support York’s Tourism Industry

City of York Council and Make It York are rolling out a new six-month tourism strategy to promote the strengths of the city.

The strategy will encourage residents and visitors to enjoy the many unique experiences the city has to offer.

City of York Council are supporting the campaign with a proposed investment of £100K for targeted marketing activity, which is designed to boost resident and visitor experience , in order to support York’s tourism and leisure industry. The proposal is to be discussed at a meeting on the Council’s Executive on 23 July 2020.

The strategy, elements of which are already in operation through City of York Council’s ‘Let’s Be York campaign’ and Make It York’s new ‘Feel at Home in York’ campaign, will focus on reenergising the city and telling the story of York’s diverse history.

The £100K investment will include targeted advertising, including digital and radio, press initiatives and new digital content, photography and video, and the curation of a unique programme of events throughout the summer and autumn of 2020. The strategy focuses on building confidence in the city as a safe and welcoming place for residents and visitors to enjoy, as well as promoting York’s special character.

The launch of this new tourism campaign, which is designed to support businesses over the next six months, is the latest in a series of activities to assist businesses across the city in adapting to the challenges posed by Covid-19. Support during the pandemic included business grants, rates relief, advice on funding, skills training and a series of key sector roundtables – as well as ongoing conversations with national government to lobby on behalf of York’s business community for further support.

The proposed activity will launch with a special ‘Our Heroes Welcome’ from 1 August for Yorkshire Day – a week to thank the incredible commitment of the city’s key workers, with a special celebratory cruise held in partnership with City Cruises York with more information will follow.

The tourism marketing strategy is part of the council’s response to support the city recovery from the economic impacts of Covid-19. The council will discuss plans to deliver a short term one year economic recovery plan, together with the one Year Transport and Place plan already underway at the Executive meeting on 24 July 2020. More information is here (link)

One of the core elements of the strategy is working collaboratively with businesses including attractions, retail and hospitality to create unique and special experiences designed to attract targeted audiences to the city, and keep them returning to the city. The recovery campaign activity will continue to prioritise public health, aligning with government advice as this develops over the coming months.

The campaign aims to attract residents as the key audience, as well as visitors from the surrounding regions. Utilising data and insights from locals, businesses and visitors, the plan of activity will continue to be shaped by feedback gathered over the coming months.

The move comes at the same time as the Council confirmed in a response to a Freedom of Information request that it had spent £4.7 million with Make It York during the last 5 years.

Fresh light shed on York’s mysterious QUANGOs

Some of the affairs of York’s taxpayer funded but independently managed organisation are to be subject to public review next week. The Councils first comprehensive “Shareholder” committee meeting is to look at the results being obtained by several organisations.

These include

Make it York (The tourism and marketing body)
Veritau Ltd – An audit body
City of York Trading – A recruitment and temporary staff agency
Yorwaste/SJB Recycling (Process local waste and refuse)

In the past these bodies have been subject to intermittent “light” scrutiny with many background details contained in “confidential” annexes. Several private annexes are still being reported to next Tuesday’s meeting but fewer than in the past

The meeting is being chaired by Cllr Nigel Ayre who was also responsible for bringing into the public domain reports on the Councils major contracts letting processes.

Make it York (MIY) plans to appoint a new post of “Head of Commercial and Revenue Generation” at a basic salary of £60,000 a year. Performance bonuses could bring the remuneration up to £80.000 pa. MIY failed to recruit to the post at a lower salary earlier in the year. The post has the objective of increasing MIY’s revenues over time such that the company can, in the first instance, become self-funding (relieving the council of its ongoing financial contribution to the business) and, beyond that, increasing the sums available to reinvest in the city.

It is unclear how potential conflicts between commercial targets and York’s traditional values will be reconciled. There have been too many disputes between local traders, visitors and residents in the past few years.

Separately MIY reports an expected £248,063 loss in the year. This is 6304 above budget expectations. Increased overheads are blamed together with poor merchandise sales in the tourist centre. The organisations new Chair Greg Dyke is due to take over the role in January.

The report touches on the Christmas Market and ongoing difficulties with access for traders (see below).

Veritau Ltd, a company jointly owned by North Yorkshire County Council and the City of York Council, wants to expand. It hopes in future to provide audit services for several additional Council and other public bodies.

City of York Trading Ltd (trading principally as WorkwithYork and WorkwithSchools) was formed in 2011 with the intention of supplying temporary staff to CYC, to schools (in and around the York area) and to other outside organisations. Through City of York Trading Ltd, the reductions in cost to CYC and the return of the profit achieved are designed to assist CYC’s financial position. If CYC had to source staff in the open market, the cost would be substantially higher than current rates paid to the Company.

Unfortunately the reports from this organisation continue to be largely opaque. The shareholder committee is being asked to approve a business plan which is enclosed in a confidential annex. Similarly, the committee is being asked to endorse the appointment of a n additional company director but without the name of the candidate being revealed.

The net cost/return to the Council of this body is not revealed.

Yorwaste/SJB Recycling. The York Council owns 23% of this company. Yorwaste operates Waste Transfer Stations (WTS), Materials Recycling Facilities (MRF), Green Waste Composting, and HWRCs for both NYCC and CYC. It also manages the closed landfill aftercare obligations at several sites including Harewood Landfill (which closed to general waste in March of this year). SJB currently operates three sites (based at Yorkshire Water waste plants) providing green waste composting services to local authorities.

The company is forecasting a loss of over £300,000 on the year. The company blames the impact of a facility closure (Seamer); external commodity prices; and two waste fires for the downturn in its fortunes.

SJB is forecasting a reduced level of profit (£159,000). With 2 of its three operational sites closing it is heavily dependent on achieving a new contract before the end of the year.

Greg Dyke to take over at “Make it York”

The “Make it York” (MIY) Quango is to get a new chair with former York University Chancellor Greg Dyke set to replace Jane Gibson.

A council report says, “an open, objective and rigorous recruitment process was undertaken supported by specialist head-hunters, Perrett Laver. The role was advertised through the Guardian jobs. Over 100 individuals were involved and these were shortlisted down to a final four. Following an interview with a panel of city stakeholders Mr Dyke emerged as the preferred candidate”

Mr Dyke holds non-executive roles with the London Film School (Chair), Trafalgar Entertainment Group (Chair), BAFTA (Vice President) and was previously Chair of the Football Association, the Ambassador Theatre Group and the British Film Institute amongst others.

His executive career included spells as Chief Executive of London Weekend Television and Director General of the BBC. He knows the city well having been Chancellor of the University of York for 11 years, and has very senior-level experience of working across a number of sectors.

The new Chair will join the organisation at a difficult time. Other tourism bodies (MIY supervises the work of “Visit York”) like “Welcome to Yorkshire” have been criticised for having a cavalier approach to the use of public funds.

MIY itself has been involved in wrangles with local traders and is often accused of a lack of transparency in its processes.

It is 100% owned by the City of York Council.

A review of governance arrangement is overdue.

Fall-out from Balloon Fiesta noise complaints

The Council has admitted that it received a lot of complaints about noise levels experienced during the Balloon Fiesta which took place on the Knavesmire at the end of September.

The noise complaints didn’t relate to the balloons themselves (which mostly failed to get off the ground because of weather conditions).

The event was organised by Events and Attractions Limited, a York based company.

Officials of the Council firmly put the blame for lack of control on the premises license holder for the Knavesmire. This they identify as “Make it York”.

Make it York is the secretive QUANGO set up by the Council several years ago to run tourism and promotional events in the City.

Make it York were apparently told that a statutory noise nuisance was witnessed by Council officials over weekend of the 27^th and 28^th September.

According to an email seen by a local Councillor,

“Make it York were asked to provide details of how they were going to prevent any further recurrences of noise nuisance from events at the Knavesmire and they have, as a result, submitted an application for a minor variation to the existing premises licence. This application requests that an additional condition is added to the existing premises licence and will require Make it York to submit a noise management plan for approval by City of York Council within two months of the licence being varied. Once approved the noise management plan would be implemented immediately for any events held on the Knavesmire and operated under the premises licence”.

“It is anticipated that any submitted noise management plan will identify all potential noise sources associated with events taking place on the and provide details on strategies which will be implemented to minimise the disturbance caused to residents from those sources, especially those activities where amplified music is involved. It is also anticipated that any submitted noise management plan will also detail methods for monitoring and controlling the noise and how Make it York will respond to any noise complaint received in the future.

As a result of the above it is the view of officers in Public Protection that such a condition should, if implemented correctly and adhered to, result in any noise from events taking place on the Knavesmire, and operated under the premises licence, being reduced to a satisfactory level such that it shouldn’t cause any further noise nuisance”.

The issue comes to a head at a difficult time for tourism support organisations in the region. “Welcome to Yorkshire” had to sack their Chief Executive following allegations of extravagance. The organisation subsequently had to be bailed out by taxpayers with a new Chairman promising more transparency in the future.

“Make it York” is likely to be subject to similar calls.

It receives a substantial taxpayer subsidy, but its meetings are held behind closed doors.

The only sliver of accountability comes through brief and infrequent updates to a Council committee. The Council nominates two representatives to the Make it York 12 person Board (currently Cllrs Mason and Taylor)

According to the organisation’s web site, “The current turnover of Make It York is around £4.8 million per annum, generated commercially from a range of revenue sources. Other than any dividends payable to the Shareholder, any surplus is invested back into the city.

With respect to its corporate structure, Make It York is a private limited company limited by shares and has an independent Board of Directors.

Its sole Shareholder is City of York Council”

York Business Improvement District performance review

320,000 pieces of chewing gum removed from pavements.

York Councillors will be considering a report on Wednesday that reviews the work of the York BID. The, mainly business funded organisation, was formed in April 2016 and aims to improve the attractiveness of the City centre.

The report includes an impressive list of achievements. The blight of chewing gum on footpaths is produces a particularly eye catching headline. In addition, 961 pieces of graffiti and fly posters have been removed.

The BID ranger service has also helped to reduce anti-social behaviour and address other criminal activities.

There has been a 1.9% increase in footfall in the City.

The report comes at a time when the government has announced that it will not be funding an initiative to regenerate the York “Future High Street” The shortlisted cities include places like Wakefield and Sheffield, but North Yorkshire has been snubbed.

Last month the government, the Architectural Heritage Fund and the National Lottery Heritage Fund announced a £62 million package of support to breathe new life into historic high streets across the country, to restore historic buildings, create new work spaces and cultural venues. As part of the overall funding, £55 million had been allocated from the Future High Streets Fund. We still hope to see York benefit from this type of government support.

The York BID has been successful initiative and has made a real difference to the quality of the City centre. It has been criticised for drawing Council resources away from sub-urban centres like Acomb but overall the BID is viewed positively.

There are ongoing issues with more improvements needed to the streetscape – too many weeds and too much graffiti – and of course empty properties. The latter in areas like Coney Street now look to be intractable problems, which is why the governments attitude to the City is so disappointing.

Some underused sites and buildings – including those owned by the Council – need to be redeveloped quickly now. The meeting on Wednesday will hear from the Executive member with responsibility for “Economy and Strategic Planning”. Members will no doubt be hoping to hear some positive news about the use of empty property economic development activities in the whole of the City.

We hope that corporate interests will similarly ensure that prominent, but derelict, sites like that next to the Barbican will also now be developed (or at least tidied up).

Overall the BID has had a successful 3 years and can look with confidence to an extension of its mandate.

NB. “Make it York” is reporting separately on its activities click here to read their report