Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absences were received from Councillors Matthew Crow and Geoffrey Russell.

There were no declarations of any interests.

To consider the enclosed minutes of the Tourism and Promoting Chorley Task Group meeting held on 12 October 2011.

RESOLVED – That the minutes of the Overview and Scrutiny Task Group – Tourism and Promoting Chorley meeting held on 12 October 2011 be held as a correct record for signing by the Chair.

The Group will receive presentations from the following officers on their areas of responsibility for key internal assets and events:

Andrew Brown – Parks and Open Spaces Manager

Conrad Heald – Town Centre and Markets Manager

Louise Finch – Events and Marketing Manager

The Committee received information from officers of the Council on their areas of responsibility for key internal assets and events. Members asked questions and following discussions suggested improvements that are summarised as follows:

The Parks and Open Spaces Manager explained that his main areas of responsibilities around tourism were the Astley Hall, Park and Coach House complex and Yarrow Valley Park, at Birkacre, Chorley.

Astley Park Complex

Since the re-opening of the refurbished Coach House and Walled Garden this area of Astley Park has become a popular visitor attraction for local people. Astley Hall and Coach House also acts as a tourist attraction and is well visited by people outside the area. The Hall and Coach House Gallery is generally open two days per week, April to December and typically welcomes around 13,000 visitors a year.

Café Ambio is the onsite café operating 7 days a week all year round, serving a wide range of hot and cold produce, the majority made using local ingredients (many seasoned by herbs from the walled gardens).

Since the refurbishment there has been an increase in the number of visitors who reside in the outlying villages of Chorley. Although they may not be tourists in the traditional sense, they are people who previously were not regularly visiting or being involved in central Chorley activities.

The main draw for the more traditional tourist, i.e. somebody who resides outside of the Borough, is largely Astley Hall and certain cultural events. The Hall itself gets visitors from across the North West, some from other parts of the County and around 200 people per year from overseas. Largely, our overseas visitors are people with family or past connections in the area. The same can also be generally said from those visiting from other counties in the country, largely they are visiting friends and family in the area and are brought to the Hall for a day trip.

The Hall does attract a good number of visitors from other areas of the North West who come to the area to specifically visit the Hall. It is largely people who have an interest in historic houses, who will research first and then plan their visit. The Hall is featured within Simon Jenkins’ ‘England’s 1000 Best Homes where he opens with “Astley Hall is the most exhilarating in Lancashire”, it is also great publicity for the Council amongst this particular group of people. Simon Jenkins is the current Chairman of the National Trust, so his recommendation carries particular credibility.

Apart from coverage in some books and guides such as the one already mentioned and promotional activities associated with certain events at the site, the Council does very little in the way of marketing to visitors from outside the Borough.

There had been some recent successes in jointly marketing the coach trips to visit both the Market and the hall as part of a combined day trip. The team are also in the early stages of collating an emailing list from visitors to the Hall in order to promote things better in the future.

The majority of the 25 private guided tours that are run each yea when the Hall is closed to  ...  view the full minutes text for item 14a

The Town Centre and Markets Manager, Conrad Heald explained that his main areas or responsibilities were the Town Centre, the markets and the Chorley Heritage Trail.

Chorley is still considered famous for its markets and have two main areas which make up Chorley Markets:

·        The famous Flat Iron (sometimes known locally as the ‘cattle market’) held on Tuesday’s; and

·        Chorley Covered Market, with static lock up stalls as well as casual availability.

On the Flat Iron, the old fashioned stalls have been replaced with brand new gazebo’s that have red and white striped tops with pelmets saying ‘Welcome to Chorley Markets’. The Gazebo’s were a recommendation of the Town Centre Vitality Inquiry and the take up by stall holders has been excellent, providing a much improved display and feel for shoppers.

Chorley also holds a monthly farmers market to bolster business for existing traders and hosts a wide variety of specialised markets, from continental to Christmas markets.

The Markets are advertised regularly n a number of publications such as:

·        Bus and Coach

·        Coach Touring

·        Coach Tours, and

·        Northern Life

The Tuesday Market attracts coach tours to the Town and the authority has an agreement with the Bus Station to allow for the parking of two coaches at a time.

Anecdotal feedback from traders gives an idea of where customers are visiting from and it would seem that the residents of St. Anne’s consider Chorley as a destination to visit.

Events like the Christmas Lights Switch on attract people to the town and this year have bee advertised on the roundabout near the Botany Bay complex. The town centre and its markets are also placed in good proximity to Astley Park.

Members discussed whether more could be done to advertise the markets by using the web and social networking sites like facebook and twitter. The markets does have its own page on the Chorley website but Members thought more could be done around linking this page to pages on other sites that shoppers may view and exploring the possibilities of Chorley coming up as a top hit when people were searching for markets information on web search engines such as google.

Advertising at the local train stations was also considered to be an effective way of attracting visitors and although this had proved to be costly in the past,  Members felt it was worth revisiting this option to see if this could be achieved at a more competitive price.

The Heritage trail is a step-by-step guide around the town centre, highlighting significant historic monuments that can be seen around the town, it is just under one and a quarter miles and takes approximately one hour to complete. The trail is popular with walking groups and is advertised on the Council’s website.

RESOLVED

1.    That the Council looks into the feasibility of advertising at the local train stations.

2.    That the markets page on the Chorley website be linked to various other pages where shoppers are seeking information about different markets  ...  view the full minutes text for item 14b

Chorley has two major events in the calendar.

·        Chorley Smile picnic in the park

·        Christmas Lights Switch on

The Chorley smile picnic in the park is an annual free summer event that attracts between 1,500 to 4,000 people depending on the weather. The event delivers a mixture of entertainment including street theatre, sports activities, cartoon characters and local performers.

The event gets positive feedback from attendee’s who are mostly from within the Borough with some travelling from other parts of Lancashire or Wigan and results in an increase in visitors to Astley Hall.

The Christmas Lights switch on, is the annual town centre winter event that usually takes place at the end of November. It attracts between 1,000 – 2,000 people and is well received by the town centre traders, who also help to plan the event. The traders also arrange activities on the Saturdays in the run up to Christmas.

A survey conducted at the 2010 Christmas lights switch on showed that attendees:

·        mostly came from communities surrounding the town centre

·        don’t spend large amounts in the town centre during the event

·        mostly found out about the event through the local paper

·        travelled in the car or walked to the event

·        liked all aspects of the event

Members commented that these results were disappointing, particularly in view of the fact that people where attending the event but not spending money in the shops. The main reason for this was due to the shops not remaining open for the evening, so although there was support from the traders for the event they were not helping boost the economy of the town on this particular evening.

This year the range of Christmas lights had been extended and through an exchange scheme with Fylde Borough Council, would be erecting lights around the town that last year had been displayed around the town of St. Anne’s. There were also plans to hold a night market this year, which was hoped would attract some shoppers to the event.

The Councils continued to encourage the schools and voluntary groups across the Borough to participate in the event and a greater emphasis had been given to these projects, however Members commented that for schools to get involved more effectively they needed months to plan and asked if they could be approached as early as the start of the school year in September.

RESOLVED

1.    That the traders be encouraged to remain open for business during the Christmas Light Switch on event.

2.    That schools across the Borough be contacted at the beginning of September.

Members are asked to consider what areas they would like to scrutinise at the next meeting of the Group.

It was agreed that at the next meeting, representatives from external organisations would be invited from:

·        Camelot Theme Park/ Park Hall

·        Chorley Little Theatre

·        Lancashire County Council

·        United Utilities:

Members would ask them what they do in this area, compare areas of best practice and find out how we could work together in the future. The representatives would be asked questions around the following areas:

·        What they do now to promote tourism and events in Chorley

·        What are their plans for the future

·        How the Council could work with them in this area.

RESOLVED – That representatives from external organisations be invited to the next meeting of the Group.