a) Artists Hub – variation in events delivery proposal (paper to follow)
Minutes:
Art Hub
The Chair advised that a paper had been circulated earlier in the day with proposals for TAP to refurbish number 43 Market Place (an unused/vacant property) into an artist’s hub, which would in turn support the creation of an artists-led community, supporting the development of local artists, curators and communities, through the provision of space for creative practice, curatorial opportunities, performance, and an ambitious artist-led program of various scaled events in the town, exhibitions, projects and activity. The reason for this submission is that what had started off as three year project only had two years remaining for completion. G Wood advised the Board that there was a formal process to go through in terms of funding.
D Maddan was invited to present the report and advised that the deadline to deliver the original project was at 24 months and therefore there had been some adjustments to it would be delivered. The outputs would remain the same, but reached it in a different way. The changes were within the 30% local delegation tolerance and therefore there was no requirement for change request from DLUHC.
Two promotional videos had been made and one which was aimed at visitors was viewed by the Board. In response to a question from Councillor Scott, D Madden advised that a second video had been made, which was aimed at businesses. The Chair advised that the videos would be shared on social media in 20-30 second clips. Referring to a recent County Council survey on empty shops in town centres, Bishop Auckland had come second to Peterlee. In his opinion, generating footfall had to be a priority. R Yorke added that positive feedback had been received on the videos. D Maddan advised that the videos were easily edited.
J Gilroy advised that as the changes would result in amendments to Captial/Revenue expenditure, further cost information would need to be submitted to DLUHC to ensure that the changes were acceptable. This was not a straightforward process. D Maddan advised that the targets would still be achievable if the costs remained at 600k for revenue and £300k for capital. In response to questions from S Harris, D Maddan assured the Board that the project could be delivered within the restricted timescales and TAP would collaborate with all partners, including the Town Council.
S Harris asked for assurances that events would be free to attend. R Yorke suggested that it was more important to create a sustainable events programme to continue without having to rely on funding and ticketed events may need to be held in order to do so. D Maddan confirmed that the end goal was to entice visitors and increase economic benefits and any ticket sales would be discretionary. This was an opportunity to launch a sustainable events programme and should not be constrained to free events.
Councillor Zair was concerned at the 12 months lost and was not comfortable being asked to approve significant financial changes having only had sight of the report that day. He added that there was already a good outdoor market and therefore no reason to encourage indoor markets and he also supported free events which had been successful in the past. R Yorke suggested that the free events had been discontinued, proving they were not sustainable and therefore funding could not be restricted to free events.
D Madden continued to the presentation slide to confirm that TAP had invested £6m to invest in the 70 bedroom limited service hotel plus parking and had submitted a pre application on 8 March 2024 and Historic England had been consulted. The grant funding element had not been finalised, but he was confident the project could be delivered by March 2026.
In response to a question from the Chair he confirmed that a limited service hotel had smaller sized rooms with a small food and beverage outlet and bar combined with a reception. It was more efficient to run and more appropriate for business use offering a place to sleep and have breakfast. The benefits were that customers could go into town to use drinking and eating facilities.
G Wood advised that in terms of funding and subsidy control package, TAP would be the project sponsor and would use property reuse funding. Any grant would be subject to a viability assessment and an indicative figure had been submitted but detailed development costs and appraisals were required and would be submitted by the end of March. Councillor Scott advised that this was a positive move and queried the response from Historic England. D Maddan advised that they would be producing a report which would be submitted to the planning authority but they were minded not to object. He provided some background information to the to pre application work which had determined that the listing on the hotel had almost certainly been overstated and its special character was reduced as most of the structure had been altered from the time it was special in the 18th century, negating the value of its historic structure. The Chair concluded that once the hotel was occupied, the town would welcome additional footfall.
Resolved
The Board agreed to submit a change request to DLUCH in relation to the delivery of the Artist Hub.