Decision:
STOCKTON-ON-TEES BOROUGH COUNCIL
CABINET DECISION
PROFORMA
Cabinet Meeting ........................................................................ 16 January 2025
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Title of Item/Report
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2024 Event Summary and 2025 Memorial Lighting Calendar
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2. |
Record of the Decision
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Consideration was given to a report that provides an overview of the Council’s 2024 Events Programme, including commercial and community led events which had been delivered by third parties, including events on Council land. The report also provided details of the delivery of the Council’s biggest event, Stockton International Riverside Festival (SIRF) which received very positive feedback in the independent market research, with 92% rating the whole experience positively and 94% feel that SIRF was a good use of Council resources.
In addition, the report provided the suggested calendar for memorial lighting for 2025.
The Borough’s event programme continued to be popular with visitor numbers and satisfaction levels remained high over the past year. There had been a good mix of small, medium and large-scale events delivered across the six towns, and some new small scale town centre events included Yard Sessions, Sustainable Environment Fair and Going for Gold.
The Council’s resources continued to be deployed across the Borough to enable local event organisers to deliver their own community focussed events which, although supported, were delivered independently of the Council. Over 25 community and local events were delivered this year, many delivered on Council land and all receiving practical support from the Council, including specialist planning and safety advice, access to relevant Council services, and financial support for safety officers, road closures, signage and programming etc. This support was essential for communities to enable them to manage their own events and celebrations in a safe manner.
Part of our large-scale event programme continued to be temporarily impacted due to the ongoing major redevelopment work on Stockton’s Riverside and High Street locations. The suspension of these events which included Stockton’s Fireworks, Super Car Saturday and Stockton’s Cycling Festival had been planned and communicated to Members and our communities.
The Council’s Events Service was working with the Town Team, contributing to the design of the new riverside spaces and planning for the continued use of the existing riverside spaces, and developing a new large-scale programme of events in preparation for the opening of the site.
Internally, there continued to be a joined-up approach across Council teams in the delivery of our events programme and the effort and support provided from service teams including Enforcement, Highways, Legal, Communications, Media, CFYA and Design Services was acknowledged. The effectiveness of this joint working and ability to respond to unexpected challenges had been very evident this year, particularly in relation to the impact of adverse weather and changes to programme and overall delivery.
RESOLVED that:-
1. The success of events programme during 2024/25.
2. The memorial lighting calendar for 2025/26 be approved.
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3. |
Reasons for the Decision
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To update Cabinet and approve the memorial lighting calendar.
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4. |
Alternative Options Considered and Rejected
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None
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Declared (Cabinet Member) Conflicts of Interest
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None
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6. |
Details of any Dispensations
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None
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7. |
Date and Time by which Call In must be executed
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Midnight Monday 27 January 2025
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Proper Officer
Supporting documents: