Information will be provided in relation to the Allendale Road Christmas Fair.
Minutes:
Mr Nigel Brady a local trader from the Allandale Road and Francis Street shopping area was present and addressed the community meeting on the plans for the 2012 Christmas Fair. Mr Brady made the following points:
· Previous Christmas Fairs had been successful and it was felt that there was more scope for an even bigger and better festival.
· Funding was being sought from the Knighton Community Meeting budget for the 2012 Stoneygate Christmas Festival. (Funding had been granted in the past for this event).
· A total of £7482 was requested. This included costs for the stalls, insurance, the Traffic Regulation Order (for the road closure), the Markets Licence, St John’s Ambulance, Security, entertainment, design and marketing and advertising.
· The funding bid included a request for £2,000 for advertising. The advertising budget had increased as it was hoped to extend the publicity and attract people from the county as well as the city.
· The theme of the Christmas Fair would be locally produced food and drink with artisan bakers, local cheese makers, brewers and farmers amongst the stallholders. There would also be art and crafts for sale.
· The event was planned for Sunday 9 December, to take place between 11.00 am and 5.00 pm.
· The 2011 Christmas Fair had been a successful community event, with a lovely atmosphere in spite of bad weather.
Councillors praised the previous Christmas Fair, in respect of both the produce on sale and the over-all event and thanks were given to Mr and Mrs Brady for organising the Fair. It was acknowledged that the event took a considerable amount of hard work.
Councillors added that in principle they were in favour of supporting the event, but the Community meeting budget totalled approximately £18,000 and the amount requested was therefore almost a third of the total budget. There were other requests for funding from the Community Meeting budget, including funding bids for financial help towards road safety projects because the Highways Section did not always have sufficient money to fund such projects.
There was some discussion as to how the estimated costs could be reduced and suggestions included:
· Liaising with Councillor Kitterick and the Queen’s Road traders to seek advice on how they funded and managed their Christmas Fair. Mr and Mrs Brady commented that the Queen’s Road Christmas Fair had been running for several years and therefore they would not need to advertise so extensively, but acknowledged that such a meeting would be helpful.
· Contacting local schools to ask them if they would include information about the Christmas Fair in their newsletter. All the contact details for schools were available on the Leicester City Council’s website.
· Seeking the possibility of external sponsorship or asking the traders to match funding. Mr and Mrs Brady advised that they had tried to do this before but in the current financial climate, this was becoming increasingly difficult.
Mr Brady also queried whether it might be possible to obtain discounted rates for advertising in the local media, though the City Council.
After some considerable discussion the Chair stated that Councillors agreed in principle to support the funding application, but felt that the total requested of £7482 was more than they could approve. He suggested that a way forward would be for it to be noted that the Councillors agreed in principle to support the funding application, but for the amount to be agreed amongst themselves outside of the meeting. This would allow for the funding application to be approved in time for the Christmas Fair. Members of the Community were asked whether there were any objections to this proposal and no objections were made.
RESOLVED:
that it be agreed that the funding application for the Stoneygate Christmas Festival 2012, be approved in principle up to the full amount, but with the final amount to be agreed by the Ward Councillors outside of the meeting after further discussions have taken place.