Killacourt Newquay: Events management on an open public space
Background:
The Killacourt is an open public space in the town centre. It is mainly a grassed area overlooking Towan Beach with views across to the Harbour and Towan Head. The site includes a bandstand and a pitch and putt area currently leased to a tenant. Due to its location it is regularly used to host local events such as Newquay Carnival, Art8 Newquay Festival of Arts and Culture, The annual Zombie Crawl (a Halloween event for children), a business support bus, art installations and summer band concerts.
The site is a Cornwall Council asset and is maintained by CORMAC e.g. grass cutting, maintenance of the bandstand and fencing. However for the past 2 years events on the Killacourt have been managed by the town council via a formal management agreement between Newquay Town Council and Cornwall Council. This has allowed the town council to schedule events without asking permission from Cornwall Council and to charge a fee to event organisers (currently £25 per day). Newquay Town Council holds the Premises Licence for the site. Cornwall Council still keeps the freehold although this may change as part of a wider asset and devolution package to be negotiated with Newquay Town Council.
The Killacourt has recently benefited from a local community, voluntary bench painting project organised by the community network involving local residents and the Green Team managed by Groundworks. CORMAC formed part of this partnership and donated paint and materials. A local business Travis Perkins also donated paint and other materials. Newquay Town Council allocated a budget of £2000 to support bench painting in the town including on the Killacourt.
Benefits achieved:
The key benefit is that local events can be organised quickly and managed more efficiently by the town council.
Capacity of the organisation: (i.e. what skills and resources are needed for this devolution project, and were any of them new to the organisation?)
Newquay Town Council has grown significantly in the past 12/18 months and they now employ 12 people including office staff, facilities management and CCTV staff. This has allowed sufficient resources to be directed at new operational responsibilities including event management, management and maintenance of local toilets and day to day operation of CCTV systems.
Time / Effort required:
Other than time spent initially drawing up and agreeing the management agreement minimal time has been spent on this devolution project. The Management Agreement is reviewed by the CC Environment Team in partnership with Newquay Town Council. Newquay Town Council holds the Premises Licence for the site.
Costs:
The main cost to the town council is associated with the administration and management of bookings. This can be difficult to calculate as some applications are more time consuming and require more monitoring than others. For example they have had a few events in recent months which required continuous site monitoring to due to the heavy equipment and footfall to the area.
Newquay Town Council holds the Premises Licence for the site but the fee is waived due to the site complying with the definition of ‘community premises’. If commercial events were to be held on the site the ‘event organisers’ would need to secure appropriate permissions including a Temporary Events Notice.
Success factors:
- Increased usage of the site by the local community.
- Greater local commitment to maintaining the site e.g. voluntary bench painting
- Improved partnership with Newquay TC, Cornwall Council and CORMAC
Cornwall Council support:
- CC Devolution Team/ CC Environment Team/ CC Community Network – management agreement
- CORMAC – maintenance of site
- Community network – supporting and encouraging local community engagement including events and voluntary maintenance.
Contact information:
- Andrew Curtis Town Clerk and Responsible Financial Officer
Newquay Town Council, Municipal Offices, Marcus Hill, Newquay, TR7 1AF
Email:
Tel: 01637 878388
Mob: 07774321524
- David Chadwick Newquay St Columb Community Network Manager
Localism and Devolution Team Cornwall Council
Room 25, Municipal Offices, Marcus Hill, TR7 1AF
Email:
Tel:01637 854007
Mob: 07528 983320