Executive Member Report to the Council
Council
23rd January 2013
AGENDA ITEM 4(e)
CABINET MEMBER FOR TOURISM AND CULTURE – COUNCILLOR
CAIN
Illuminations
Consultations are underway over a possible contractual change to move some staff within the
Illuminations team to annualised hours. This proposed change reflects the varying workload
within the service at different times of the year and is intended to maximise efficiency and
provide sufficient flexibility to use staff resource at times when it is most needed.
Heritage
Our Heritage Lottery-funded programme, Blackpool 100, is now coming to a close. More than
1,000 people took part in a range of projects linked to the centenary celebrations of the
Grundy Art Gallery and the Central Library. The final element is ‘A Song for Blackpool’, which
was inspired by song-sheets, theatre programmes and posters held in our Local History
Centre. The song was first performed at our celebration event in the Grundy Art Gallery. The
choir will be reuniting in the New Year at Blackpool’s Hard Rock Studio to record the song.
Copies of the song and song-sheets will be provided to other local choirs so they can include
it as part of their repertoire.
Work will be getting underway on another Heritage Lottery-funded project in 2013. This one
focuses on the historic collections relating to the Illuminations. There are approximately
26,000 items currently in store at Lightworks. They follow the whole process from the original
artists’ design concepts, technical specifications, blueprints, photographs and even
maintenance records. They are a genuinely unique collection of historical archives telling the
story of the world-famous Illuminations. This project will re-store list and catalogue to
museum quality standards. It will also increase access through work with local schools and
collections open days.
Leisure Centres
The Active Blackpool Health programme celebrated a successful year by holding its annual
Christmas Party at the Cliffs Hotel in December. Over 185 service users attended the party,
many of whom have long-term health conditions. The programme which aims to improve
adults overall levels of health is delivered across the three main leisure sites, Palatine Leisure
Centre, Blackpool Sports Centre and Moor Park Health and Leisure Centre and in 2012
received over 1200 referrals from GP’s across the town. Clients take part in a range of
activities which include cycling, swimming and aqua classes, gym sessions, badminton,
bowling, table tennis, short tennis, chair based exercise and most recently tai chi and the new
Feel Good Factory. Organised walks are also a key part of the programme and attract over
500 visits each month which are delivered by 20 volunteer walk leaders, with 2013 marking
the tenth anniversary of the ‘Steps to Health’ walking programme.
Blackpool Sports Centre hosted the National Schools Netball tournament in November, with
over 500 young people from across England, taking part in the under 14’s, under 16’s and
under 19’s tournaments over two days. The tournaments were a great success and Blackpool
hopes to host the event once again in 2013. In December, Palatine Leisure Centre hosted the
national English Table Tennis VETS Tournament where veteran table tennis competitors from
across the country took part.
Parks Development (Stanley Park)
The Stanley Park Management team has developed a comprehensive draft design proposal
for a new £150,000 playground and the Friends of Stanley Park are leading on a public
consultation exercise in January 2013. Questionnaires for both adults and children have been
devised. Suitable sources of external funding have been earmarked and bids are currently
being progressed.
Green Flag Application for Stanley Park
The Green Flag Award application for Stanley Park is being prepared for submission on the
31st January 2013. The overall quality of the park is monitored through the Green Flag Award
scheme, the national standard for parks and green spaces, providing a benchmark against
which excellence and provision of high quality landscapes are measured. The Green Flag
Award has replaced Independent Soft Landscape Assessments as the primary form of
assessment used to monitor standards within Stanley Park. The annual awards play an
important role in ensuring the continuing quality of the parks, provision for community and
visitors, development of environmental standards and ensuring we meet corporate objectives.
The process for Green Flag judging involves an in depth review of Park Management Plans
prior to a site visit. The judges’ visit occurs every two years and is written up into a summary
and includes an overall score for the park out of a total 100. General comments relating to
each assessment criteria are included highlighting any particular issues, as well as
acknowledging where positive management action, projects or initiatives have occurred. The
most recent Stanley Park assessment was undertaken in May 2011. Park Managers use the
Judges Feedback Reports to guide management and maintenance. The Stanley Park
Management Team is currently rewriting the 2008/ 2013 Park Management Plan and
completing detailed application forms ready for the submission deadline.
Grundy Art Gallery
The Grundy has recently applied for the renewal of its national Accreditation, a scheme that
sets nationally agreed standards for museums in the UK now being administered by the Arts
Council of England in partnership with Museum, Archives, Libraries Wales (CyMAL),
Museums Galleries Scotland and the Northern Ireland Museum Council. It is important for the
Grundy to continue to maintain the highest professional standards if it is to receive quality
touring exhibitions and investment from external funders.
The Accreditation Scheme has recently been updated and developed to keep pace with the
times, to help museums develop their resilience through effective forward planning, to balance
aspects of collection management and to encourage all museums to be responsive to user
needs and expectations.
In order to meet the criteria the Grundy has recently produced a new Collections Development
Policy and a business plan for the next three years. The Council is due to hear the outcome of
the Accreditation application by the end of January 2013.
Artists on Central Drive
The Arts Service has been working with colleagues from Neighbourhood Services and the
CVS to support the ‘Big Local’ initiative in Revoe.
Building on the success and learning from the ‘Culture Shops’ programme in the town centre,
nine artists have been chosen by a panel, including local representatives from the community,
to deliver a range of creative projects using an empty shop on Central Drive for workshops,
talks and displays. Artists’ ideas being developed include talking to local people about their
shopping habits and painting portraits of them, creating a fantasy pet shop with the help of
local children, knitting workshops to create a high street scene in one of the empty shop’s
windows and the creation of a community quilt looking at the past, present and future of
Revoe.
The aim is for the local community to take part in the organisation of this pilot and then
continue to grow and develop the project using more empty shops in the area working with
local artists.
Libraries
The Society of Chief Librarians (SCL) is working with partners, including the Department of
Culture, Media and Sport, the Arts Council and the Reading Agency, to develop a number of
national “library offers”. The offers aim to provide an up-to-date, core minimum standard for
all local authority library services in line with the statutory requirement for the provision of a
“comprehensive and efficient” service as stated in the 1964 Library Act. These offers will be
tied into the Local Government improvement agenda and will be aligned with the Arts Council
Future Libraries programme.
This work aims to help libraries to combat the effects of budget cuts by sharing and working
together, removing duplicated effort and creating new opportunities for national marketing and
advocacy. There are basically four offers in the areas of Digital, Reading, Information and
Health. Blackpool Library service is committed to developing all four of these offers, working
with regional and local partners. Blackpool is an Executive member of the North West Society
of Chief Librarians, a partnership of 23 local authority library services. All four key areas
identified for prioritisation and development also closely reflect Blackpool Council priorities.
The National Offers will be formally launched at the British Library on 31st January by Ed
Vaizey, UK Minister for Culture, Communications and Creative Industries.