Issue - meetings

Lancaster Cultural Heritage Strategy

Meeting: 05/07/2011 - Cabinet (Item 13)

13 Lancaster Cultural Heritage Strategy PDF 132 KB

(Cabinet Member with Special Responsibility Councillor Sands)

Report of the Head of Regeneration and Policy

Additional documents:

Minutes:

(Cabinet Member with Special Responsibility Councillor Sands)

Cabinet received a report from the Head of Regeneration and Policy to consider the outcome and recommendations of the final version of the Lancaster Cultural Heritage Strategy prepared by consultants Blue Sail following extensive consultation.

The options, options analysis, including risk assessment and officer preferred option, were set out in the report as follows:

Option

Advantages

Disadvantages

Risks

1. Do not adopt final Cultural Heritage Strategy objectives/priorities.

No advantages identified.

No clear up to date and comprehensive statement of direction, in either strategic or development terms, of City Council priorities for Cultural Heritage.

Development of Lancaster’s cultural heritage offer will have to take place on a piecemeal basis, lacking a strong and clear economic justification, and without a strong and well developed strategic framework.

The Council may miss an opportunity to build upon stakeholder engagement during strategy development.

2. Cabinet endorses Cultural Heritage Strategy objectives/priorities.

Clear commitment to and direction for Cultural Heritage as an economic and regeneration driver for the district.

Clear economic justification for individual projects and a robust evaluation framework.

Wide consultation and formal feedback has led to identification of priorities.

Bringing together all key partners to deliver a co-ordinated investment strategy in a manner that maximises the benefit to the local economy and tackles the long under investment in this aspect of the visitor economy will be difficult.

Normal risks associated with practical delivery: achieving development and revenue funding, managing and shaping individual projects and initiatives.

3. Cabinet endorses Cultural Heritage Strategy objectives/priorities with amendments / alternative actions.

Depending on time taken to review amendments there should still be:

Clear commitment to and direction for Cultural Heritage as an economic and regeneration driver for the district.

Clear economic justification.

Further delay possible in bringing together all key partners to deliver a co-ordinated investment strategy in a manner that maximises the benefit to the local economy and tackles the long under investment in this aspect of the visitor economy will be difficult.

Normal risks associated with practical delivery: achieving development and revenue funding, managing and shaping individual projects and initiatives.

Option 2 was the preferred option as this provideda clear commitment and direction for Cultural Heritage and its contribution to economic regeneration work in the district through the stated policy objectives, priorities and outline action plan. Option 3 was also available to Members and acceptable given the context of changing circumstances/funding environment noted in paragraph 2.6 of the report. Members were assured that the recommendations had been subject to independent appraisal and wide community consultation.

Essentially the Lancaster Cultural Heritage Strategy and the implementation plan was a programme rather than a collection of individual projects. It provided a strategic overview and a framework for any projects that were ultimately supported to move forward. As individual projects were developed, and if they had individual council resource/risk implications they would be subject to detailed internal appraisal within the council’s own scrutiny and project management systems. Any individual project ... view the full minutes text for item 13