Appendix 2
COUNCIL EFFICIENCY AND EFFECTIVENESS OVERVIEW & SCRUTINY COMMITTEE
19 SEPTEMBER 2013
PETITION FROM POOLE BEACH HUT ASSOCIATION REGARDING THE BRITISH BEACH POLO CHAMPIONSHIPS
Officers assessment of petition statement and presentation by PBHA.
In response to the petition organisers statement, members are asked to consider the following responses:2013 Petition organisers statement:
“We ask you to sign this Petition to help to try and get Poole Council to reconsider running this event which causes major disruption on Poole’s premiere beach and results in the beach being out of use for both residents who pay large Council Taxes, numerous visitors who go away disappointed and beach hut lessees who cannot use their paid for amenities. The event costs Poole Council (and hence local residents) a large sum of money in additional policing, beach preparation, loss car park fees, health and safety policing, lost beach hut revenue, after event clearing up etc and, despite initial assurance, brings little or no benefit to Poole taxpayers or local residents.Event organisers pay a ludicrously small fee to Poole Council for exclusive use of the beach for almost two weeks”.
Petition organisers statements in black, officers comments are in red:
“We ask you to sign this Petition to help to try and get Poole Council to reconsider running this event which causes major disruption on Poole’s premiere beach and results in:
the beach being out of use for both residents who pay large Council Taxes, numerous visitors who go away disappointed - the event takes place along 160m (or approx 4%) of the total 4.2km wide seafront so there is plenty of beach available for visitors.
and beach hut lessees who cannot use their paid for amenities. - all tenants can access their beach hut at all times but we accept that for some the event can be disruptive.Tenants who visit their hut and feel that the event activities are causing them a disturbance are offered huts elsewhere at Sandbanks.3 tenants took up this offer this year.
The event costs Poole Council (and hence local residents) a large sum of money in additional policing - the Council does not incur any additional policing or security costs.
beach preparation - the Council does not incur any additional beach preparation costs, we aim to maintain a clean flat beach for other events and normal beach use.We also do not have to clean or rake 160m of beach for the 9 days during the event set up, running and take down.
loss [of] car park fees - the organisers are charged for the 66 reserved spaces if the car park reaches capacity.8 free spaces are provided free of charge throughout the event even if the car park reaches capacity.
health and safety policing – events are part of the Council’s core business and no additional costs are incurred, if they were they would be passed to the organisers.
lost beach hut revenue – There may be some lost income from short term lets at Sandbanksbut this is difficult to prove or disprove since anecdotal feedback suggests that those people put off by the polo either book alternative areas in Poole or different dates. The Council feels the wider economic gain is worth the risk of minor rental losses and the figures presented by the PBHA are purely hypothetical since many huts would be empty during early July.
after event clearing up etc - the Council does not incur any additional clean up costs, for example, the organisers are charged for cleaning the car park.
and, despite initial assurance, brings little or no benefit to Poole taxpayers or local residents.– see Appendix 2 for the results of the Economic Impact Assessment (EIA) carried out by MRG.
Event organisers pay a ludicrously small fee to Poole Council – net incomes to the Council will have increased by 115% over 3 years and whilst it is easy to suggest a higher value, event fees are structured and determined by the Events Charging Policy. The value of events is also set by the market and there are no other events prepared to pay more for this area of beach.
for exclusive use of the beach for almost two weeks”. – the event organisers are on site for a total of 9 - 9.5 days and views of the polo matches in the main arena are enjoyed by many members of the public for free throughout the event.
In response to the petition organisers presentation statement to Council, members are asked to consider the following responses:
Petition organisers statements in black, officers comments are in red:
“I speak on behalf of a large number of Poole ratepayers.
Whilst we are not directly opposed to the Beach Polo Event, we do not consider that certain issues need to be addressed and resolved before a contract is resigned for future years. We were promised in a meeting with Poole Council that the Beach Office would register ALL complaints. In fact they passed directly to Sand Polo Ltd!
This is incorrect, see Section 4 of committee report.
These issues are as follows....
We have requested a copy of the HSE Risk Assessment which needs to be carried out before and after the event. This appears not to have been carried out, or we are being denied a copy. We have received a HSE PLAN which is not the same.
The event under goes a robust examination by the Poole Safety Advisory Group
This year there were again issues regarding safety with no banks men being employed with reversing vehicles etc and there was at least one near miss. We have reports of vomiting and urination in public. Your Beach Office Staff witnessed the above.
The Council accommodates a very large range of events of differing sizes and types working with an array of amateur and professional event organisers. The organisers have worked hard to manage safety across all areas and whilst there will always be isolated instances of delivery men not following protocol or minor instances of anti social behaviour it is important that the whole event is considered objectively. Many of the Councils own staffare highly qualified and experienced event professionals and it is the Officer’s view that the Polo is one of the most professionally and effectively delivered events in Poole.
Secondly....
The Bournemouth University survey is flawed and is being misrepresented in terms of the benefits to Poole. We carriedout our own survey at the weekends and could find only one person who was staying at a Poole Hotel.
The Market Research Group (MRG) of Bournemouth University has stated that, “The data described in the report was prepared using a robust methodology that should give confidence in the results.”
Poole Tourism Board has stated that it, “warmly welcomes the [event] to Poole”, and that, “The Beach Polo is an integral part of the overall special events programme.Local hoteliers, guest houses and self-catering property providers see business generated from this event and at the time of this year’s event the tourism office struggled to find accommodation for people wanting to stay in the town.”
In fact the announcer referred on two occasions to the event being in the “Heart of Bournemouth”!!
We believe the event costs the Council a great deal of money whilst the organisers make a large sum for themselves, being charged a comparatively small fee. We have requested specific accounts for the event (as required by our own guidelines) and these have not been forthcoming. This year, on one day alone, 30 parking spaces were earmarked for Beach Polo vehicle use! We were assured that a substantial increase would be applied for next year when this was negotiated in September. This has not been done.
Event fees have risen considerably over recent years. Car parking spaces are also paid for by the event organiser if the car park reaches capacity.See 4.3 of committee report.
In relation to the two points mentioned, our request to Poole Council under the FOI Act for information has been very badly handled....., in the words of your own compliance officer,
POOLE COUNCIL DID NOT CONFIRM OR DENY EXISTENCE OF THE REQUIRED DOCUMENTS.
POOLE COUNCIL DID NOT SUPPLY INFORMATION ON EXEMPTONS TO THE FOI ACT THEY REFERRED TO.
POOLE COUNCIL NARROWLY INTERPRETED THE REQUEST AND DID NOT ASSIST THE INQUIRER.
POOLE COUNCIL DID NOT RELEASE INFORMATION AS REQUIRED TO DO UNDER THE FOI ACT.
In fact, in Council led meeting, ratepayers were told by a Council Senior official, very brusquely, to stop asking petty questions which had been replied to. TOTALLY INACCURATE and unacceptable in light of the above comments by Poole Compliance Officer.
Please see 4.6 of the committee report.
As a last point, many Poole ratepayers who have leased Beach huts on a long term basis are considerably inconvenienced by the event, being unable to use their Beach Huts in the manner intended for two prime weeks in the summer. Requests for compensation have been pushed aside.
Requests for replacement huts have been partly met on a last minute daily basis after a large amount of pressure. This is not acceptable to these ratepayers and hut lessees.
Officers do not agree that the offer of alternative huts is the result of a large amount of pressure or that the event lasts 2 weeks and it is outside of the main holiday season. The Council is happy to offer tenants alternatives where possible, if they find the event activities are causing them a disturbance.
We ask that Poole Council DO not renew the contract for 2014 and beyond without referring back to the petitioners with acceptable answers. We also ask that the two documents referred to above (Risk Assessment and specific accounts) be supplied.”
All information requested has been provided. Risk is assessed in a number of ways for an event of this size and all publically available information have been provided together with the financial information requested where it is held by the Council. Additional information has been requested form the organisers and is included within the committee report.Please see 4.6 of the committee report.
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