Agenda item

(To receive a report by the Assistant Director Economy and Culture which sets out the purpose and objectives of marketing the County, and the concept of Place Marketing to enable the Committee to discuss priorities and focus for marketing activities)

Consideration was given to a report presented by the Assistant Director Economy and Culture which set out the purpose and objectives of marketing the County, and the concept of Place Marketing, to enable Members to discuss priorities and focus for marketing activities.  It described marketing, promotion and communications activities undertaken by Economy and Culture and Strategic Communications Services within the Council to support discussions on resources available for Marketing and Communications.  It was noted that parallel discussions had also been taking place through the Greater Lincolnshire Local Economic Partnership (GLLEP) on marketing and tourism promotion.

The Committee was guided through the report and it was highlighted that 42,000 homes were planned for Central Lincolnshire along with a population growth of 86,000 and 210 hectares of employment land.  Of this total, 18,800 dwellings had been allocated to Lincoln, which was an approximate 40,000 increase in population.

It was noted that it was important to promote the County in order to attract and retain investment which would then encourage tourism and create a higher quality of life for residents. 

The Committee was provided with the opportunity to ask questions to the officers present in relation to the information contained within the report and some of the points raised during discussion included the following:

·         In terms of tourism, there was a need to understand how many overnight stays and week-long stays there were in the County to help to understand supply and demand needs for accommodation;

·         The accommodation sector had a great potential for growth, as there was still a capacity for more hotel accommodation within the County;

·         It was acknowledged that Lincolnshire was a large County and different areas had different demands in terms of accommodation needs;

·         The authority worked closely with district councils on tourism issues, and shared an enquiry system;

·         The Communications team had strong links with the communications teams in all the districts, and there was an increasing online presence through social media as well as county news and local media;

·         The Executive Councillor Economic Development, Environment, Planning and Tourism reported that he chaired the meeting of Lead Economic Councillors, and there was attendance from all district councils, and it was a very active forum.  There had been a lot more interest in this area since the formation of the LEP;

·         The authority attended networking events and specifically targeted work around key sectors by attending food shows and engineering shows;

·         The authority's biggest resource was its people, and councillors needed to act as advocates for the county as there were many good places to invest in throughout the County as well as Lincoln;

·         An aspiration should be to create 1.5 jobs for every house that was built;

·         Infrastructure continued to be an issue;

·         The LEP had formed a working group to examine the supply and demand of tourism in the County, and it was suggested that a report be brought back to this committee in the new year with its findings;

RESOLVED

1.    That comments made in relation to the report be noted.

2.    That a report on the findings from the LEP Working Group be brought to a future meeting.